DUKE 

UNIVERSITY 


LIBRARY 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT 


IN 


OUTLINE. 


BY 


CAROLINE  E.  UPHAM. 


JLLUSTRA  TED. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


SAI.EM,  MASSACHUSETTS: 

The  Salem  Pkkss  Publishing  <5^  Printing  Co. 

®l)c  §ulcm  puss. 

1891. 


■  !1— ' «  --f— T»-.  J'J  '  "  I’  ■  _  W»~  **» 


J 


\ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/salemwitchcrafti01upha 


\J 


133.4- 

IL(o13 


TO  MY  LITTLE  SON 

CHARLES  WENTWORfH  UPHAM 

BOTH  BECAUSE  HE  IS  DEAR 
AND  BECAUSE  OF  THE  NAME  HE  BEARS. 

(tii) 


414592 

»— . . 

*  ■  * 

...  !) 


pwr^Wll.H.Hl'.  JIIMIBIWIK.IIWL-- - "■‘M^lllilllUMii  I  ,  ...  I  —  -■  ■  -  n,  -  un.  j_i.  I, 


3  . 

- 

I  •*'.  ' 

r  , 

l  \  ■  '  u  ■  •  • 

i  * 

•'  • 

i 

• 

'  ' 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. — The  Witch — Her  Position  in 
the  Olcl  and  New  World — Matthew 
Hopkins,  the  Witch-finder  General,  .  i 

Chapter  II. — Colonial  Belief  in  the  Cloven 

Hoof,  .  .  .  .  .  .  7 

Chapter  III. — The  Bewitched  Children,  .  14 

Chapter  IV. — Three  Arrests,  .  .  .21 

Chapter  V. — A  1 7th  Century  Examination,  27  _  JLC 
Chapter  VI. — The  Colony  Bewitched,  .  .  40 

Chapter  VII. — The  Ministers,  .  .  *47 

Chapter  VIII. — Giles  Corey’s  Infatuation — 


Martha  Corey, 


414592 


ii*  >■  1,  t  11,, 


I 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  IX. —  Giles  Corey’s  Expiation, 

Chapter  X. — Rebecca  Nurse, 

Chapter  XI. — A  very  Young  Witch — In¬ 
trepid  Joseph  Putnam — John  and 
Elizabeth  Procter,  . 

Chapter  XII.— Bridget  Bishop, 

Chapter  XIII.— Mary  Easty,  the  Self- 
forgetful,  ..... 

Chapter  XIV.— The  Jacobs  Family,  . 

Chapter  XV. — The  Trouble  in  Andover — 
Philip  and  Mary  English— Martha 
Carrier,  ...... 

Chapter  XVI. —Elizabeth  How— Rev. 
George  Burroughs— “Angels  of  Light,” 

Chapter  XVII. — Rev.  Deodat  Lawson  and 
Other  Names — Susannah  Martin — 
Nineteen  Persons  “Of whom  tJieWorld 
was  not  Worthy,” . 

Chapter  XVIII. — The  Awakening,  . 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Printed  from  the 


same  plates  used  in  Hon.  C. 


IV. 


Upham's  work. 


The  Philip  English  house,  Salem, 

frontispiece, 

The  Rebecca  Nurse  homestead,  still 
standing,  Danvers,  .  .  to  face  page  72. 

The  Jacobs  House,  North  Salem, 

to  face  page  100. 

Autographs  of  Sir  William  Phips,  Jona¬ 
than  Corwin,  John  Hathorne,  John  Procter, 

to  face  page  40. 

Autographs , of  Philip  English,  Mary  Eng¬ 
lish,  Mercy  Lewis,  Nicholas  Noyes,  Ann 
Putnam,  ...  to  face  page  115. 


(vii) 


mmm 


PREFACE. 

Sixty  years  ago  in  February,  two  lectures  on 
the  Witchcraft  Delusion  were  given  before  the 
Salem  Lyceum  by  the  late  Charles  W.  Upham. 
These,  afterwards  printed  in  book  form,  are  most 
brilliant  essays  on  this  dark  subject ;  they  were 
written  when  the  author  was  in  the  vigor  of  early 
manhood,  and  attracted  much  attention  at  the 
time.  Thirty-five  years  later,  Mr.  Upham,  then 
in  his  ripe  intellectual  power,  prepared  his  “His¬ 
tory  of  Salem  Witchcraft,”  which  was  given  a  high 
place  among  historical  works,  by  reason  of  its 
faithful  research,  fair  judgment  and  elegant  dic¬ 
tion.  Both  works  are  now  out  of  print,  r- 
The  author  of  the  present  volume  claims  to  be 
neither  a  brilliant  essayist  nor  an  historian,  but 
having  been  urged  to  prepare  a  sketch  of  the 
History,  now  offers  it  to  the  public  as  one  would 

(ix) 


1 


r  .  . 


ft 

ii  .  V  , 

•  • 

5. .  .  '  !  ' 

;V:, 

A  - 

•  ~  1  r /.  / 

l  ' 

V  .  ■ . ' 

■  '  1 

.  .  .•  '•  • . 

v  .  .  .4, 

I  '  ■  •  ;  ? 


/  ••  ■ 


PREFACE. 

the  photograph  of  a  notable  scene,  not  a  great 
original  painting.  And  if,  as.it  must  be,  the  rich 
coloring  and  delicate  effects  are  missing  in  the 
reproduction,  it  is  hoped  the  drawing  may  be 
found  true,  and  no  important  lines  set  in  awry. 

Having  been  desired  by  the  heirs  of  the  late 
Charles  W.  Upham  to  draw  freely  from  the  His- 
tory,  paragraphs  from  it  have  been  woven  into 
the  sketch  giving  strength  to  the  little  story,  and 
seiving  the  reader  better  than  a  feminine  pen 
could  do. 

As  “Salem  Witchcraft  in  Outline”  has  come 
into  being  in  the  same  room  where  the  History 
was  born,  the  writer  hopes  there  may  be  one 
point  of  resemblance  between  them,  a  staying 
quality.  That,  whereas,  her  father-in-law  earned 
for  his  creation  a  strong  foothold  in  standard 
literature,  the  result  of  her  work  may  be  to  have 
fixed  certain  facts  firmly  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  read  them. 


v 


•  y 


« 

■’2 

•  » 

■v  ’ '  .  v 

•  I 


...i 

r 


I  •  v  ... 

1 ' 

% 


/ 


'MtWtl.ftMNnj  IIIIUH  '  '  >  «■'  n  ■* 


INTRODUCTION. 


Next  to  the  hard  lessons  taught  by  experience, 
no  knowledge  remains  so  firmly  fixed  as  do  the 
lessons  learned  in  outline. 

The  Primary  Geography,  with  its  strongly- 
marked  principal  cities  and  largest  rivers,  will  be 
stamped  on  the  mind  with  lasting  impression, 
while  the  High  School  Geography,  because  of  its 
multitude  of  claims  on  the  memory,  fades  away, 
gently  and  evenly. 

It  is  through  our  Child’s  History  of  England 
that  we  remember  the  notable  dates  and  events 
of  the  Mother  Country,  and  not  from  the  more 
ponderous  volumes  we  studied  later,  where  the 
great  crisis  and  its  crowd  of  details  being  learned 
together  are  in  time  forgotten  together. 

If  it  were  not  for  this  fact,  courage  might  not 
be  found  wherewith  to  give  in  brief  outline  the 

(xi) 


mmvm  nm*  *  — m  «  »a» 


■ai  impiii  I  n.  ■miimnn  ,1  I  ■  ’  ^'»  »  I  I 1  y 


•v 


7  V  .  • 

’ 

•  - 

I  ,  .  J 

V 

...  ■ 

•;  ,  .  r  . 


-  'V'-  "■  • 

■  "  '  :  V  V-« 

!••  •  • 


1 


:  -vV?  * 

*  .  ,‘i  1  •  ’  .  . 

&  K  <V’ 


9  / 

77 


}  ■’ 


<•  it ; 
A  ! 


1: 


Xll 


INTRODUCTION. 


History  of  the  Witchcraft  Delusion.  Yet,  re¬ 
membering  the  power  of  our  Primary  Geography, 
where  the  outline  of  the  earth  is  given  with  entire 
success,  there  is  no  reason  for  hesitating  to  pre¬ 
sent  a  short  story  of  one  of  the  great  mistakes 
made  in  one  part  of  the  earth. 

In  order  to  get  our  outline  of  Salem  Witch¬ 
craft,  let  us  ask  and  seek  replies  to  the  following 
questions. 

I.  When  did  it  occur? 

II.  How  long  did  it  last? 

III.  How  many  suffered  ? 

IV.  Why  did  they  suffer  at  all? 
lie  persecution  of  persons  for  witchcraft  in 

Salem  was  in  1692. 

It  lasted  from  the  latter  part  of  February, 
when  the  first  singular  actions  of  the  supposed 
bewitched  young  girls  were  noticed,  until  Sept. 
22,  when  the  last  executions  took  place.  The 
storm  was  then  over,  though  the  air  was  not 
clear  of  threatened  danger  until  May  of  1693, 
when  all  prisoners  were  set  free. 


/ 


1 


..  ....  j 


Vi). 


7* 


fl  .  7 

•77  | 

s' '  ii 


1 3  a 


. 


il 

'  SP 

m 

■  v;  V 

M  ,  m 

'  .  .  \ 

I 


V 

.. 

•  • 

^  ♦ 

i''\  ",  ‘  :  y  '  -■  . 

T  , 

’ 

i  • 
.* 

&  *'  •  <f 


4  • " .  . 

r  '  ;  .  V  •  L 

V 

; ;  <  ■  .  *>.. 

| 

I  ’ 

i  '  ■  * 

•  '  ■  . 

...  ‘ 

r.  .  ( 

I  '  i  *.  ft  f 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  WITCH  —  HER  POSITION  IN  THE  OLD  AND  NEW 
WORLD — MATTHEW  HOPKINS,  THE  WITCH-FINDER- 
GENERAL. 

^  EARCH  for  the  true  causes  which  brought 
'2-'  about  this  fierce  and  desolating  delusion  in 
New  England  has  been  and  is,  to  the  student  of 
human  nature,  as  fascinating  as  seeking  for  the 
source  of  the  Nile  to  explorers.  The  Nile  would 
never  have  been  the  Nile  if  it  had  depended  on 
Nyanza  alone  for  its  volume,  but  other  lakes  aided 
its  current  and  countless  tributaries  swelled  its 
power  till  it  became  mighty.  So  the  phi’osopher, 
as  he  follows  up  one  phase  after  another  of  early 
New  England  life,  finds  many  elements  which 
helped  to  swell  the  dark  tide  of  superstition,  till 

(0 


*  *  •  • 

fe  ,  '  „  ..  . 


:<■  '  ,  »  • 


t'  };  •  *  v  . 


mrnmw 


.  i  -i  - - 


yf 


2  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

becoming  resistless  in  it=  force,  many  innocent 
lives  were  swept  away  in  the  flood. 

I  The  veritable  origin  of  the  delusion  was  of  • 
course  in  the  established  belief  of  the  day  in 
Witchcraft,  given  an  impetus  by  mischievous 
girls,  augmented  by  the  ignorance  of  the  “chirur- 
geotis”  who  knew  less  of  hysteria  and  the  infinite 
capacities  of  nerves  than  is  known  now,  impelled 
by  the  ministers,  who  felt  that  in  rooting  out  the 
evil  they  were  subduing  enemies  of  the  Lord,  and 
by  their  valor  becoming  available  for  heavenly 
promotion,  while  family  feuds,  private  grudges, 
jealousies  and  bitterness, — all  added  to  the  terri¬ 
ble  tumult.  \ 

It  is  a  little  singular  to  note  how  the  word* 
witch  has  improvedjn  its  significance  with  more 
enlightened  times.  We  speak  of  a  “little  witch,” 
meaning  a  child  or  young  person  of  uncommon 
attractiveness,  and  are  “bewitched”  we  say  with 
anything  we  intensely  admire,  with  never  a 
thought  of  diabolical  influence  in  either  case  ;  far 
otherwise  did  the  world  of  1 69  2  interpret  the  word. 


/ 


V 


' 

'  \ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


“A  witch  was  regarded  by  our  fathers,  as  a  per¬ 
son  who  has  made  a  deliberate  and  formal  com¬ 
pact  with  Satan,  by  which  compact  it  was  agreed 
that  she  should  become  his  faithful  subject,  and 
do  what  she  could  in  promoting  his  cause,  and 
in  consideration  of  this  allegiance  and  service, 
he  on  his  part  agreed  to  exercise  his  supernatural 
powers  in  her  favor,  and  communicate  to  her  a 
portion  of  those  powers.  Thus  a  witch  was  con¬ 
sidered  in  the  light  of  a  person  who  had  trans¬ 
ferred  allegiance  and  worship  from  God  to  the 

Devil.^J)  t- - 

Having  seen  how  benighted  our  ancestors  were 
on  this  subject,  fet  us  take  a  look  across  the 
Atlantic  and  see  what  they  were  doing  in  the  fif¬ 
teenth,  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Among  other  things,  they  were  hanging  and 
burning  witches  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands.^ 
For  once,  England,  France  and  Germany  were 
of  one  mind :  they  all  believed  in  witchcraft  or 
demonology,  and  implicitly  obeyed  the  scriptural 
injunction  “thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live.” 


/ 


■ 

. 


4  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

Not  alone  the  poor  and  ignorant  in  these  coun¬ 
tries,  but  the  highest  and  wisest  in  the  land, 
poets,  bishops,  judges,  gave  it  authority.  Why 
should  any  humbler  people  differ  in  opinion,  ex¬ 
cepting  of  course  the  unfortunates  accused  ?  ^ 

It  may  be  something  of  a  shock  to  realize  that 
Richard  Baxter  whose  “Saints’  Rest”  has  soothed 
so  many  souls,  the  dauntless  Luther,  Kepler,  who 
could  read  the  laws  governing  planets,  that  dis¬ 
coverer  in  philosophy,  Bacon,  such  a  compendi¬ 
um  of  wisdom  as  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  with  others 
to  whom  we  have  always  rendered  deep  intellec¬ 
tual  homage,  were  all  of  this  way  of  thinking. 
f ”ln  England,  in  the  year  1645,  Matthew  Hop- 
lp(hs  coming  into  the  world  a  little  late  for  the 
Crusades,  desiring  to  be  famo&s,  assumed  the 
title  of  “  Witch-finder  general.”  must  have 
fancied  that  the  promise  “seek  and  ye  shall  find” 
applied  specially  to  witches  and  salvation,  forjie 
most  diligently  sought-for  the~first>  pursuing  his 
victims  with  barbarous  methods  for  their  detec- 

tion.,3 


.Vi,  *  i 
.  II 


IS 


I  '■ 


"  % 


..  «  . 


- J  v. ’ 


ififcnrr — — - 


mm . .  n  1  »iipi  1  wk 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


5 


i 


K 


As  one  of  his  tests  was  made  use  o£Jn  the  * 
Salem  trials  it  may  be  given  here.^It  was  thought 
that  if  persons  had  made  an  agreement  with  the 
devil,  he  set  his  mark  somewhere  upon  their 
bodies,  and  that  it  would  be  a  dead  or  callous 
spot  in  the  skin.  So  the  flesh  of  the  poor  accused 
wretch  was  subjected  to  close  scrutiny  and 
pricked  in  order  to  find  the  callous  spot.  This 
was  not  difficult  to  find  in  the  skin  of  an  aged 
person. 

His  own  original  and  favorite  test,  however, 
was  to  tie  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  to  the 
great  toe  of  the  left  foot,  and  thus  secured,  drag 
the  Victim  through  a  river  or  pond ;  if  the  body 
floated,  as  it  naturally  would  sustained  by  the 
rope,  it  was  declared  a  sure  proof  that  the  poor  * 
creature  must  be  a  witch. 

His  wonderful  success  at  witch-finding,  par¬ 
ticularly  as  he  demanded  of  the  authorities  re¬ 
muneration  for  his  efforts,  finally  aroused  the 
suspicions  of  good  citizens,  and  capturing  the 
witch-finder-general,  they  tied  his  thumb  and  toe 


\  t  r\ 


■iv-  v; 

. 


“  *»•  •>s* 

3 


... 


6 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


together  as  lie  had  served  others,  and  dragged 
him  through  the  water,  finding  to  their  delight 
that  neither  did  he  sink.  It  is  said  that  he  pro¬ 
cured  in  one  county  alone,  the  deaths  of  three 
times  as  many  people  as  perished  in  Salem’s# 
whole  persecution.  There  were  a  few  sporadic 
cases  of  supposed  witchcraft  in  other  parts  of 
the  colonies.1  William  Penn  presided  at  the 
trials  of  two  Swedish  women  in  Philadelphia  for 
witchcraft,  which  was  a  capital  offence  by  the 
laws  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  Luckily 
for  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  the  prisoners  by 
some  technicality,  were  acquitted  ;  for  the  flint 
and  tinder  were  there  and  the  spark  struck,  but 
the  spark  went  out  and  the  conflagration  pre¬ 
vented. 

'Margaret  Jones  was  executed  for  witchcraft  in  Boston, 
Juno  13,  1848.  Mrs.  Ann  Ilibbins  executed  in  Boston  for  the 
same  offence,  Juno  19,  1050,  also  Goody  Glover,  nn  Irish¬ 
woman,  executed  in  Boston  in  1088.  Mary  Parsons  of  Spring- 
field  was  tried,  and  convicted  of  witchcrnP.  in  1051,  but  her 
execution  is  uncertain. 


CHAPTER  II. 

COLONIAL  BELIEF  IN  THE  CLOVEN  HOOF. 

j^vAVING  looked  into  the  minds  of  the  people 
C  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  and  found 
them  furnished  with  the  same  material,  let  us 
consider  for  a  moment  the  aspect  of  the  new 
country  which  the  colonists  of  eastern  Massachu¬ 
setts  looked  out  upon,  and  see  whether  it  was 
calculated  to  foster  superstitious  fears. 

Can  we,  from  our  luxurir - 

n i neteenth  ce^—  atlPer^;Vus  position' niH p{jle 

^-;r«P0Si,el;r^r 

his  a.rP°r  f°r  ll" 

— andt[mbe;- :r::;vr: 

(7) 


•  % 

[-  '  ■  •' 

f 


l  41 


1  v  % 

*  * 

1  '  •  * 

•  u 

-  •  I 


.*'i 
. : 

' 

i ... . . 


:  t  .  •  '< 

:  : 


« 


Mnawiiiwwiimin 


A  .*■ 


I  ■"  <!■» 


i.i  mJ 


--  - - ..  j_ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


fields  or  gardens  till  the  stumps  were  burned  and 
the  interlacing  roots  destroyed. 

Instead  of  open  streets  they  had  a  primeval 
forest ;  noble  indeed  for  the  poet,  but  exceed¬ 
ingly  inconvenient  for  the  purposes  of  agriculture. 
No  policemen  to  patrol  the  dark  corners,  no  fire 
department  to  summon  in  distress  ;  but,  behold, 
on  the  contrary,  to  disturb  the  peace  and  set  fire 
to  their  homes,  a  race  of  dreaded  beings  whose 
fierce  wild  looks  were  only  equalled  by  their 
cruel  acts.  The  Indian  in  his  war  paint  and  feath¬ 
ers,  sending  forth  unearthly  battle-cries,  must- 
have  seemed  to  the  homesick  emigrants,  as  hid¬ 
eous  a  travesty  on  human"- kind,  as  the  mythical 
"fllJgun  of  older  times  was  to— the-resptfctabfe~ 
_  animal  world _ 

I  he  pioneer  of  to-cia>,  -noi.;n£r  his  home  on  a 
western  prairie,  knows  none  of  these  terrors. 
His  farm  is  ready  cleared  to  his  hand,  even  fer¬ 
tilized,  for  nature  has  been  enriching  the  soil  for 
hundreds  of  years ;  and,  unless  the  pioneer  has 
been  audacious  enough  to  plant  himself  and  his 


■*  ;f 


IO 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


congenial  theatre  upon  which  to  display  its 
power. ^  Cultivation  had  made  but  a  slight  en¬ 
croachment  on  the  wilderness.  Wide,  dark,  un¬ 
explored  forests  covered  the  hills,  hung  over  the 
lonely  roads,  and  frowned  upon  the  scattered  set¬ 
tlements.  Persons  whose  lives  have  been  passed 
where  the  surface  has  long  been  opened,  and  the 
land  generally  cleared,  little  know  the  power  of 
a  primitive  wilderness  upon  the  mind.  There 
is  nothing  more  impressive  than  its  sombre 
shadows  and  gloomy  recesses.  The  solitary  wan¬ 
derer  is  ever  and  anon  startled  by  the  strange,  mys¬ 
terious  sounds  that  issue  from  its  hidden  depths. 
The  distant  fall  of  an  ancient  and  decayed 
trunk,  or  the  tread  of  animals  as  they  prowl  over 
the  mouldering  branches  with  which  the  ground 
is  strewn  ;  the  fluttering  of  unseen  birds  brushing 
through  the  foliage,  or  the  moaning  of  the  wind 
sweeping  over  the  topmost  boughs, — these  all 
tend  to  excite  the  imagination  and  solemnize  the 
mind.  But  the  stillness  of  a  forest  is  more  start¬ 
ling  and  awe-inspiring  than  its  sounds.  Its  si- 


%  , 

>  V\ 


■  “V  •  •  • 


ummmu 


iJUi  >  tin  ii  r t  ■!  immumm* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  II 


lence  is  so  deep  as  itself  to  become  audible  to 
the  inner  soul.  It  is  not  surprising  that  wooded 
countries  have  been  the  fruitful  fountains  and 
nurseries  of  superstition. 

‘  In  such  a  place  as  this,  at  such  an  hour, 

If  ancestry  can  he  in  aught  believed, 

Descending  spirits  have  conversed  with  man, 

And  told  the  secrets  of  the  world  unknown.’ 

The  forests  which  surrounded  our  ancestors 
were  the  abode  of  a  mysterious  race  of  men  of 
strange  demeanor  and  unascertained  origin.  The 
aspects  they  presented,  the  stories  told  of  them, 
and  everything  connected  with  them,  served  to 
awaken  fear,  bewilder  the  imagination,  and  ag¬ 
gravate  the  tendencies  of  the  general  condition 
of  things  to  fanatical  enthusiasm.  It  was  the 
common  belief  sanctioned  not  by  the  clergy  alone,  • 
but  by  the  most  learned  scholars  of  that  and  the 
preceding  ages,  that  the  American  Indians  were  • 
the  subjects  and  worshippers  of  the  Devil.” 

The  surroundings  of  the  colonists  at  this  time 


- 


'.-V,  a 

. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


were  not  calculated  to  give  them  a  very  cheerful 
view  of  life  certainly  :  pirates  by  sea,  Indians  by 
land,  with  taxes  overhead  and  hard  labor  under 
their  hand.  What  wonder,  then,  that  such  a  peo¬ 
ple,  with  witchcraft  taught  them  in  their  creed, 
when  brought  face  to  face  with  things  they  could 
not  account  for,  should  with  horror  believe  that 
Satan  had  indeed  come  among  them  ! 

We  have  said  it  was  the  popular  belief  of  the 
day.  Probably  with  the  most  moderate  and  con¬ 
servative  of  the  citizens,  it  was  like  our  own  be¬ 
lief  in  the  power  of  the  lightning.  We  know 
there  are  dangerous  thunderstorms  and  realize 
their  deadly  force  ;  but  we  never  anticipate  that 
we  shall  be  the  victims  of  a  flash,  particularly  if 
we  live  in  a  house  protected  by  a  lightning-rod. 
So  with  the  majority  of  those  early  settlers.  They 
believed  in  witchcraft,  for  their  Bibles  seemed  to 
point  to  it ;  they  read  it  there  as  plainly  as  that 
the  sun  stood  still,  and  that  Jonah  passed  three 
days  comfortably  in  a  whale.  But  they  supposed. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE 


until  forced  to  the  contrary  belief,  that  they 
would  be  free  from  such  a  curse,  sheltered  under 
a  Christian  faith,  and  blameless  life. 

These  made  up  the  acquiescent  portion  of  the 
community,  for  thus  is  society  always  made  up. 
One  part  asserts,  while  the  other  finally  assents 
to  the  ideas  and  opinions  suggested. 


:  v  •  ’ 


I 

i 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  BEWITCHED  CHILDREN. 


MONG  the  most  active  in  the  delusion,  and 
in  whose  house  the  strange  doings 


_ _ _  origi- 

nated  which  begap  the  persecution,  was  the  Rev.  * 
Samuel  Parris.  In  early  life  he  had  been 
chant  in  the  West  Indies,  and,  on 


a  mer- 
changing  his 
livelihood  from  commerce  to  the  Gospel,  showed 
a  most  thrifty  not  to  say  grasping  nature  in  all 
agreements  pertaining  to  salary.  His  parishion¬ 
ers,  who  at  first  welcomed  him  gladly,  became 
disaffected  on  perceiving  his  mercantile  spirit 
preponderate  over  his  zeal  for  winning  souls,  and 
we  all  know  that,  when  disaffection  begins,  an¬ 
tipathy  is  apt  to  follow.  At  all  events,  there  were 
disagreements  and  dissensions  in  the  parish  at 
Salem  Village. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


What  was  then  known  as  Salem  Village  is  now 
the  town  of  Danvers,  adjoining  what  is  the  pres¬ 
ent  city  of  Salem. 

^  Mr.  Parris  brought  with  him  from  the  West 
or  Spanish  Indjgs,  three  slaves,  negro  or  Indian, 
probably  of  mixed  blood  ;  two  of  them  were  con¬ 
cerned  in  the  troubles  that  came  later?) 

Superstition,  as  we  know,  grows  apace  even  in 
northern  climes,  while  in  the  warm  countries 
whence  the  Indian  woman  Tituba  came,  it  flour¬ 
ished  with  the  luxuriance  of  its  own  tropical 
plants.  Doubtless  this  servant  Tituba  had  many 
weird  tales  of  sorcery  prevalent  in  her  native  tribe 
to  tell  the  young  people,  which  added  to  the 
superstition  of  the  air  they  breathed,  and  the 
naughty  imaginations  in  their  own  hearts  bore 
most  miserable  fruit  all  too  soon. 

Let  us  look  more  closely  at  the  “afflicted  chil¬ 
dren,”  whose  mischief  broadened  into  the  trage¬ 
dy  which  is  the  saddest  page  of  our  American 
history. 


b!  1  r  vv* . 
I  ii  ':■■■  :j<:  . 

i. .Me:* 


■  ■  ■  y*  '  r. 

& 

V  ip  p.(  : 


£  Elizabeth  Parris,  aged  nine,  Abigail  Williams 


fv.:  '  *1 

■'  '  y  V  >.  V 

, 

• 

V  ■  < 


1  . 


/ 


. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

her  cousin,  aged  eleven,  Ann  Putnam  aged  twelve 
daughter  of  Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam  the  parish 
clerk,  Mary  Walcott,  Mercy  Lewis  and  Elizabeth, 
Hubbard  aged  seventeen,  with  Elizabeth  Booth 
Susannah  Sheldon,  Mary  Warren  and  Sarah 
Churchill,  two  of  whom,  it  should  be  noted,  were 
servants  in  the  families  of  those  whom  they  ac- 
cused.  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam,  mother  of  Ann,  was 
much  wrought  upon  as  the  affair  became  more 
serious,  and  saw  visions  and  bore  testimony  with 
the  others.  Indeed,  the  whole  of  this  branch 
of  the  Putnam  family  appears  to  have  been  sin¬ 
gularly  nervous  and  excitable^  , — 

^These  young  persons^  having  no  dancing 
class  or  skating  rinks  to  enliven  their  tim  <  had 
been  whiling  away  the  winter  evenings  of  '91  and 
’92,  by  meeting  at  Mr.  Parris’  house  and  prac¬ 
tising  palmistry  and  other  magic  artsjwhich  even 
in  this  steady  age  are  more  calculated  to  disturb 
the  mind  than  to  strengthen  it.  It  is  not  very 
surprising  then,  that  such  young  brains,  created 
in  a  period  when  supernatural  beings  were  ac- 


ft 

v  „■ 


,  s 

v  ,-:v' 


' 


V71V- 


•  ■ 

l  V  .  V 


;y-  .. 


1 


;T' - -  • 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


cepted  by  the  wisest,  should  become  excited  into  . 
a  state  of  frenzy  by  their  own  disordered  wills. 

We  have  heard  much  in  our  generation  of  the 
license  and  importance,  allowed  to  young  Amer¬ 
ica  as  he  perambulates  his  own  and  foreign 
lands  ;  but  it  must  be  owned,  that  young  Amer¬ 
ica,  as  he  lay  in  his  cradle,  contrived  to  turn  the 
world  about  him  upside  down  in  a  way  he  would 
not  presume  to  do  now  that  he  is  half  grown. 

Therefore  behold  the  three  children  first 
named, ^putting- into  practice  the  little  tricks  they 
had  just  learned.  “They  would  creep  into  holes, 
and  under  chairs,  put  themselves  into  odd  pos¬ 
tures,  make  antic  gestures,  and  utter  loud  out¬ 
cries  and  ridiculous,  incoherent  and  unintelligi¬ 
ble  expressions.”^ 

^Soon  the  attention  of  the  family  was  attracted^ 
We  can  almost  fancy  them  saying  “What  ails 
the  children  !”  Having  attracted  notice,  we  can 
readily  believe  that  their  strange  doings  became 
more  violent,  particularly  as  the  effect  on  the  pa¬ 
rental  mind  was  not  of  an  admonitory  nature,  but 
expressed  bewilderment  and  dismay. 


/ 


I 


\ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


So  |he  poor  troubled  parents,  not  knowing  wliat 
distressed  the  children,  did  just  what  we  do  now, 
sent  for  the  doctor,  and  Griggs  was  the  name  of 
the  medical  man  who  caused  more  woe  than  any 
since.  N 

Now  the  whole  trouble  might  be  laid  to  the 
door  of  the  physician  who,  not  comprehending 
either  maladies  or  human  kind  as  well  as  the 
medical  fraternity  of  the  present  day  ^solemnly 
and  promptly  ascribed  the  symptoms  he  did  not 
understand,  to  causes  no  one  else  understood  and  & 
yet  believed  in,  namely,  witchcraft^  If  children 
in  our  times  should  perform  any  strange  capers 
not  ascribable  to  either  teething  or  measles,  the 
family  doctor  called  in  would  shake  his  head 
•quite  as  gravely,  but  pronounce  the  trouble  was 
the  evident  result  of — indigestion. 

Primitive  people  have  always  thought  that 
what  they  did  not  comprehend  must  be  explained 
by  supernatural  agents,  the  phenomSTta  'ill  lire  “ 
Keavens.  Or  any~of  natuifeTs^mrevealed  secrets-in 
t1i6^«arth-^etiCS{lir'  The  savage  tribes  in  the 
hearroTAfWca  to-day,  to  whom  the  effects  of 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


To  return  to  the  young  girls,  whon^Dr.  Griggs 
has  just  pronounced  bewitched^  ^Doubtless,  at 
fust,  £heir  antics  were-  the  result  of  wanton  mis¬ 
chief  mingled  with  that  morbid  desire  to  create  a 
sensation  which  has  been  the  fatal  flaw  in  so 
many  female  characters.^ 

^Mr.  Parris  and  the  Tutnam  parents^  however, 
instead  of  feeling  that  the  case  demanded  a  rod, 
were  deeply  impressed  by  the  serious  situation, 
and  tried  to  mend  the  matter  by  fasting  and 
prayers.  Neighboring  ministers  were  called  in 
and  the  girls  performed  before  them,  doubtless 
improving  the  quality  of  the  acting  at  each  re¬ 
hearsal.  Fervent  prayers  did  not  avail  much 
here ;  the  ministers  were  horror-stricken  with 
what  they  saw,  and  agreed  with  the  physician, 
that  the  unfortunates  from  this  time  called  “af¬ 
flicted  children,”  must  indeed  be  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  devil.  I 


mmrnm 


/ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IX  OUTLINE. 


This  being  the  awful  case^who  had  been  the 
means  of  bewitching  them^The  dark  mystery 
must  be  unravelled,  and  th^Tchildren  were  en¬ 
treated  and  importuned  to  telL,)  (^'hey  did  not  at 
first  accuse  any  one  very  likely  they  never 
thought  of  doing  so  until  it  was  suggested  to  them, 
or  may  be  they  were  looking  about  for  some 
safely  obscure  person  on  whom  to  cast  the  blame. 

^But  being  besought  for  name  or  names,  they 
cried  out  “Good,”  “Osburn,”  “Tituba.”^ 

Just  here  the  mischiefceased,  and  the  misery 
began  which  deepened  into  a  darkness  neither 
two  hundred  nor  two  thousand  years  can  lighten. 


m mm 


/ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THREE  ARRESTS. 

^MAGINE  the  pitch  of  excitement  and  terror 
which  prevailed  in  the  community,  at  the  real¬ 
ization  that  three  witches  were  acknowledged  to 
be  among  them  !  A  menagerie  let  loose  was  as 
n  nothing  compared  to  this  danger  ;  bolts  and  bars 
might  serve  as  a  defence  from  beasts  of  prey, 
but  neither  doors  nor  distance  could  protect  one 
from  the  wiles  of  a  witch. 

(On  the  29th  of  February,  warrants  were  duly 
issued  against  Sarah  Good,  Sarah  Osburn,  and 
the  Indian  woman  Tituba.  The  complainants 
in  these  cases  were  Joseph  Hutchinson,  Edward 
Putnam,  Thomas  Putnam  and  Thomas  Preston, 
all  men  of  influence  and  of  good  character.^ 
“Joseph  Hutchinson  was  a  firm-minded  man,  of 

(21) 


/ 


* 

■ 


22 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


strong  common  sense,”  Edward  Putnam  was 
“Deacon”  Putnam,  a  title  of  weight  in  those  days, 
Thomas  Putnam  was  the  father  of  Ann,  and 
Thomas  Preston  was  a  son-in-law  of  Francis 
Nurse.  Of  the  Nurses  we  shall  hear  more  later. 

.  ( It  never  occurred  to  any  one  apparently  that 
the  girls  were  playing  a  part,  and  under  the  com¬ 
fortable  disguise  of  bewitched  persons  they  might 
commit  any  folly  or  wickedness  that  occurred  to 
them.^  jOn  one  occasion,  on  the  Lords’  Day, 
March  20th,  when  the  singing  of  the  psalm  pre¬ 
vious  to  the  sermon  was  concluded,  before  the 
person  preaching — Mr.  Lawson  —  could  come 
forward,  Abigail  Williams  cried  out,  “Now  stand 
up  and  name  your  text.”  When  he  had  read  it, 
in  a  loud  and  insolent  voice  she  exclaimed,  “Its 
a  long  text.”  In  the  midst  of  the  discourse, 
Mrs.  Pope  (an  occasional  performer)  broke  in, 
“Now  there  is  enough  of  that.”  In  the  after¬ 
noon  of  the  same  day,  while  referring  to  the 
doctrine  he  had  been  expounding  in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  service,  Abigail  Williams  rudely  ejacu- 


\  v 


’ '  t ' 


A 

. 


v.  ir  v'. 


1  V  t 

*.  t  %  i 

''  \  ■ 

V"  r  . 

% 

■  & 

*  s 

'•S'  i 


Mafia 


I  I  '  m  immtrn 


Ad i 


i 


VV  '  :  V 

<  .  . 

h  :  .v  ,■.*  ; 

*’,'t  •  >  t. « 

.  ,r  .  i  .  > 

».r  ;  .,*? 

r  •  •  *■  ; 

I  ^  'it' 

f’  V 

In  ■  ■  f 

e/  \ 

>■ 

*  ■  V  , 

■i*’  '  *i 

{• 1  „  ' 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


lated  "I  know  no  doctrine  you  had.  If  you  did 
name  one,  I  have  forgot  it.”  An  aged  member 
of  the  church  was  present  against  whom  a  war¬ 
rant  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft  had  been  pro¬ 
cured  the  day  before.  Being  apprised  of  the 
proceeding,  Abigail  Williams  spoke  aloud,  dur¬ 
ing  the  service,  calling  by  name  the  person  about 
to  be  apprehended,  “Look  where  she  sits  upon 
the  beam  sucking  her  yellow-bird  betwixt  her 
fingers  1”  Ann  Putnam  joined  in  exclaiming, 
“There  is  a  yellow  bird  sitting  on  the  minister’s 
hat,  as  it  hangs  on  the  pin  in  the  pulpit.”  Mr. 
Lawson  remarks,  with  much  simplicity,  that  these 
things,  occurring  “  in  the  time  of  public  wor¬ 
ship,  did  something  interrupt  me  in  my  first 
prayer,  being  so  unusual.”  There  is  no  intima¬ 
tion  that  Mr.  Parris  rebuked  his  niece  for  her 
disorderly  behavior.  |  The  girls  were  supposed 
to  be  under  an  irresistible  and  supernatural  im¬ 
pulse  ;  and  instead  of  being  severely  punished, 
were  looked  upon  with  mingled  pity,  terror  and 
awe,  and  made  objects  of  the  greatest  attention. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


P'roin  this  it  may  be  seen  that  the  girls  had 
grown  much  bolder  in  their  attempts  to  delude 
the  public.  It  seems  a  long  way  from  “creep¬ 
ing  into  holes”  to  interrupting  the  church  ser¬ 
vices  ;  from  “uttering  incoherent  noises,”  to 
riiaking  declarations  against  innocent  persons 
which  led  to  arrest  and  prison.  A  study  of  the 
subject  shows  that  thefe  was  a  steady  progres¬ 
sion  in  three  <vays  as  the  delusion  increased  in 
its  deadly  power. 

(  First,  in  the  capabilities  of  the  girls  for  being 
tormented,  as  they  soon  added  fits,  faints  and 
ravings,  to  their  accomplishments^ 

Second,  in  the  class  of  people  whom  they  ac¬ 
cused,  beginning  with  a  poor  homeless  wanderer 
whom  no  one  cared  for,  and  finally  numbering 
among  the  victims  saintly  Christians  and  a  Chris¬ 
tian  minister. 

Third,  in  the  things  which  they  claimed  the 
supposed  witch  had  done  :  at  first  they  declared 
they  were  pinched  and  leased ;  later  on,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  unfortunate  clergyman,  there  were 


A  TV- 


-  -  -  r  1,111  I  I  in> 


r 

'•K. 

•'>  ;  f 

'■  • 

f ;  y  Vvv. 

At  (  v.  . 

•tf*1  1,  • 


/<  >'■■•  * 


•y:>' 


4V' 


r  ^  *».. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

visions  of  horrible  murders  committed  by  him, 
blood  and  plenty  of  it  would  alone  content  them 
in  their  testimony  against  the  accused. 

How  perfectly  delighted  these  young  females 
must  have  been  with  the  result  of  their  pranks. 
They  started  to  make  a  bonfire,  and  lo  !  the  whole 
country  was  ablaze  by  their  naughtiness,  while 
they  themselves  were  not  even  scorched. 

It  should  be  stated  that,  after  the  first  com¬ 
motion,  the  Parris  child  Was  removed  from  the 
scene,  and  taken  to  some  quiet  place  of  retire¬ 
ment. 

^~""Sarah  Good,  the  first  person  accused  in  the 
delusion,  was  a  forlorn  specimen  of  womankind, 
a  wife,  though  alienated  from  her  husband,  a 
mother,  with  no  means  to  supply  the  wants  of 
her  children,  she  was  reduced  to  begging  from 
her  more  prosperous  neighbors.  No  beggar  is 
ever  a  popular  citizen,  and  with  or  without  rea¬ 
son,  there  was  a  decided  prejudice  against  Sarah 
Good.  Sarah  Osburn  was  another  poor  creature 
whose  life  had  been  marred,  and  of  whom  gos- 


l\  .w\  v.  - 

C  l/*  -  • 

•  Kr  v 

&  Of,.'  V 


■^rjr-rr 


-  - 


■*-*r 


26  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

sip,  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  any  place,  had  talked 
freely.  Her  second  marriage  was  unhappy, 
which  so  depressed  her  that  her  mind,  dwelling 
upon  that  and  her  changed  fortunes,  became  un¬ 
balanced.  She  was  also  ill  and  had  been  bed¬ 
ridden. 

Neither  of  these  poor  women  had  any  hold  up¬ 
on  popular  esteem  or  sympathy.  They  were  un¬ 
lovely  and  unloved  ;  and,  were  it  possible  for  the 
fanaticism  to  break  out  afresh  to-day,  we  could 
easily  find  among  us  certain  distressed  and  un¬ 
popular  old  women  on  whom  it  would  be  equal¬ 
ly  safe  for  the  shaft  to  fall. 

In  selecting  Tituba  as  one  of  the  causes  of 
their  trouble,  the  children  were  more  than  half 
right,  for  doubtless  she  had  filled  their  heads 
with  all  sorts  of  superstitious  notions,  and  though 
she  believed  in  witches  and  charms,  she  did  not 
at  first  take  kindly  to  the  idea  that  she  was  a 
witch  herself.  [ 


/ 


— — 


5\  /'  .  \  •  '• 

1 1  i 
... 

V'  r-  ■■ 

r 

V'1  V 

1 

*  7-M*1  >  ■■  • 

'  * 

,  •  . 

5  '  :  '  S 
.  ■  v 

!  ■  '  -  "’V 

r>:v  's  v.r . 
f;  '  u  ? 

j  •■  ••  -  ..  •' 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  17TH  CENTURY  EXAMINATION. 

HE  arrests  made,  •  the  examinations  of  the 
prisoners  must  follow,  and  March  1,  the  two- 
principal  magistrates  of  the  day  and^neighbor- 
hood,  with  great  pomp  and  display  of  official 
power,  appeared  on  the  scene  ;  tjiese  were  Jona¬ 
than  Corwin  and  John  Hathorne.  A  great  crowd 
assembled  in  the  meeting-house  to  witness  the 
novel  and  dreadful  proceedings^the  minutes  of 
which  are  found  among  the  files-. 

The  examination  of  Sarah  Good  before  the 
worshipful  Esqrs.,  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan 
Corwin. 

"Sarah  Good,  what  evil  spirit  have  you  fami¬ 
liarity  with? — None. 

-  (27) 


1-' 

■ 

■rJ-  •  r 
; 

’  ‘  •-!.  -■  . 
4  .  '  -  / 

-  •  •  • 

,  7  -  >  - ■■ 

1  *>•,«*;  *  1 

1  ■ 

I  V  '  v  '  * 


|  ,4 , 


■  •  '  v. 

:■  " 


•  ->  ,•  • 

.'.*•■>  r  '  v;, 

ft  :  A  .-v;  v 

[■;*-.  -  ' ;  >  •  -•  ~r -J  i 

,  J I 

•'  J 

.r 

n  ■'  .  .  •  .  \ 

■/v  ,  ■ 

f7  V 

'  V 

fo'.  y  «.’«,•  '  •  \ 

l" . .  '  ■  /  •  *•  r/J 

r:  '  ‘ :  '  ,  .0 

•  •  • 

'£•■  K  ■>  1 

■*  k 

V  > 

f  ’  •>  .  I 

f;  *  ,  /  • 

<  *J  >  : 
iV'^'  -  * 

gr$  v.v- - 

j 

-  ;  i  V  . 

/.  ■  <■  T-  i 


t 


/•  *r'/ 

:  •  • 

7'  I"  <  ■■  v 

' 


r*  J ' 

*•  W  Midi 


r 


’  ..  K 

r' .  •  •.•**•  • 

, •  .-i*. 

&  v  '■  * 

r 

fc-'V  '  '  *  ; 
:: 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


29 


“Who  do  you  employ  then? — I  employ  no¬ 
body.  I  scorn  it. 

“How  came  they  thus  tormented  ? — What  do 
I  know?  You  bring  others  here,  and  now  you 
charge  me  with  it. 

“Why,  who  was  it? — I  do  not  know  but  itw&s 
some  you  brought  into  the  meeting-house  with  you. 

“We  brought  you  into  the  meeting-house. — 
But  you  brought  in  two  more. 

“Who  was  it  then  that  tormented  the  chil¬ 
dren  ? — It  was  Osburn. 

“What  was  it  you  say  when  you  go  muttering 
away  from  persons’  houses? — If  I  must  tell,  I 
will  tell. 

“Do  tell  us  then. — If  I  must  tell,  I  will  tell ; 
it  is  the  Commandments.  I  may  say  my  Com¬ 
mandments,  I  hope. 

“What  commandment  is  it? — If  I  must  tell 
you  I  will  tell ;  it  is  a  psalm. 

“What  Psalm  ? 

“(After  a  long  time* she  muttered  o*er  some 
part  of  a  psalm.) 

“Who  do  you  serve  ? — I  serve  God. 


n 

V 


U  ,  •  V 


irV'V..  -  ;,§,  . 

,  *v  ••  •  . 


.  '  ■ 


. 


mm* 


rnmmm 


-1  'mi  >*» 


i#r  /,  .  a«'  ,  >  \\  « z 

f. .  *  /  r  4 

1 

I  .  -  .V  ■ 


’  !’V: 


30  SACEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

“What  God  do  you  serve? — The  God  that 
made  heaven  and  earth”  (though  she  was  not 
willing  to  mention  the  word  “God”).  Her  answers 
were  in  a  very  wicked,  spiteful  manner,  reflecting 
against  the  authority  with  base  and  abusive 
Words  ;  and  many  lies  she  was  taken  in.  It  was 
here  said  that  her  husband  had  said  that  he  was 
afraid  that  she  either  was  a  witch  or  would  be 
one  very  quickly.  The  worshipful  Mr.  Hathorne 
asked  him  his  reason  why  he  said  so  of  her, 
whether  he  had  ever  seen  anything  by  her,  He 
answered  “No,  not  in  this  nature,”  but  it  was  her 
bad  carriage  to  him  ;  and  indeed,  said  he,  “I  may 
say  with  tears,  that  she  is  an  enemy  to  all  good.” 

This  was  in  the  handwriting  of  Ezekiel  Chee- 
ver.  His  translation  of  her  answers  is  surpris¬ 
ing  to  an  average  reader,  who  can  find  nothing 
in  the  examination  but  the  badgering  of  a  de¬ 
spondent  woman,  who  however  tries  hard  to  keep 
to  the  truth.  Her  only  flash  of  spirit  is  in  the 
retort — il  may  say  my  Commandments  I  hope” — 
roused  for  once  out  of  her  hopeless  apathy. 
After  having  protested  her  innocence  many  times 


i  ■  y 


!• 


■V  t  •  *. 

'TT  ‘ 


f v  •  4  • 

[;  ‘  ♦ 

\  1 

. 

\  . 

ii 

• , 

*'1 

’.'i 

\ 

» ; 

b* : -7 

>  .  •• 

*'  ■ 

' 

»• 

V 

3! 

r\ 

. 

*  '. 

■  ’’V 


;U  \yf  .1 

*  * 


«*  .rv.‘i 


' 


w 

:X 

■M 


F.V. 

ft 


t, 

' 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


and  it  seemed  to  avail  her  nothing,  when  the  only 
way  of  escape  appears  to  be  to  fasten  the  guilt 
on  some  one  else,  she  takes  the  suggestion,  of¬ 
fered  her,  and  declares  “Osburn”  is  the  tormen¬ 
tor.  She  grasps  the  idea  as  a  life-saving  plank 
by  which  she  may  reach  a  place  of  safety,  for¬ 
getful  of  the  fact  that  by  so  doing  she  pushes 
another  into  the  deep  waters.  x 

“It  will  be  noticed  that  the  examination  was 
conducted  in  the  form  of  questions  but  by  the 
magistrate,  Hathorne,  based  upon  a  foregone 
conclusion  of  the  prisoner’s  guilt,  and  expres¬ 
sive  of  a  conviction,  all  along  on  his  part,  that  the 
evidence  of  “the  afflicted”  against  her  amounted 
to,  and  was,  absolute  demonstration.  It  will  also 
be  noticed,  that,  severe  as  was  the  opinion  of  her 
husband  in  reference  to  her  general  conduct,  he 
could  not  be  made  to  say  that  he  had  ever  no¬ 
ticed  anything  in  her  of  the  nature  of  witchcraft. 
The  torments  the  girls  affected  to  experience,  in 
looking  at  her,  must  have  produced  an  over¬ 
whelming  effect  on  the  crowd,  as  they  did  on  the 


'I-'-' 

_  • 

^ 

*  . 

•  .  '  . 


t  •  ;  . 


•• 


II  I  1 WMWI ILlll L ■■■  I . . . 


. 


32 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


magistrate,  and  even  on  the  poor  amazed  crea¬ 
ture  herself.  She  did  not  seem  to  doubt  the 
reality  of  their  sufferings.  In  this,  and  in  all 
cases,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  account 

of  the  examination  comes  from  those  who  were 

• 

under  the  wildest  excitement  against  the  prison¬ 
ers  ;  that  no  counsel  was  allowed  them  that,  if 
anything  was  suffered  to  be  said  in  their  defence 
by  others,  it  failed  to  reach  us  ;  that  the  accused 
persons  were  wholly  unaccustomed  to  such  scenes 
and  exposures,  unsuspicious  of  the  perils  of  a 
cross-examination,  or  of  an  inquisition  conduct¬ 
ed  with  a  design  to  entrap  and  ensnare  ;  and  that 
what  they  did  say  was  liable  to  be  misunderstood, 
as  well  as  misrepresented.” 

(  Sarah  Osburn  was  then  brought  in.  Frail  in 
body  and  feeble  in  mind,  she  yet  had  strength 
enough  to  maintain  her  innocence  of  the  charges 

'This  was  by  the  laws  of  England  in  force  at  that  time. 
Counsol  were  not  allowed  In  capital  cases,  excepting  on 
questions  of  law  where  the  Court  was  in  doubt.  Tho  Judge 
was  supposed  to  be  counsel  for  the  prisoners. 

/-  - 


.  .  > 

' 

■  d 

\  '■  V 


/ 


...... 

(V  -fi  .■  « 


§;  ’■  Ij 

f  -i  v  i 

. V . •  ■  ■ 

;  y 

'  ■  il 

\ ::  .  /  V  H 


ft*  *'  A^ 

K-  - 

^.vf:  y'; '  • 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


33 


made  against  her.  ^The  second  examination  was 
very  like  the  first  in  the  nature  oi  the  questions-* 
„  put  to  the  prisoners,  and  marked  by  the  same’ 

unfairness.  ) 

^When  the  poor  creature  was  told  that  Sarah 
Good  had  declared  that  it  was  she  who  had  hurt 
the  children,  her  only  reply  was,  “I  do  not  know 
that  the  Devil  goes  about  in  my  likeness  to  do 
any  hurt.” 

She  was  committed  to  prison  and  heavily 
chained.  From  March  7th  to  May  10th  she  lan¬ 
guished  in  Boston  jail,  when  death,  more  con¬ 
siderate  than  man,  released  her  from  her  bonds. 

The  examination  of  Tituba,  the  Indian  woman, 
is  curiously  enlivened  by  her  imagination.  With 
all  her  ignorance  and  superstition  she  is  clever, 
and  by  Confessing  somewhat,  and  implicating 
others,  she  played  into  the  hands  of  those  who 
were  only  too  glad  to  find  witches  trumps. 

At  first,  she  says  she  did  npt  and  would  not 
hurt  the  children.  Then  perceiving  it  would  be 
very  pleasing  to  the  popular  feeling  to  have 


t.  '  •  m 

.  1  ,  -  * 

* 

..... 

j!  * 


\ 


r  * 

4.  '  I  ,  * 


* 


I  V 


■ 


••  t. 


mmm 


mm 


mmm 


im* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


witches  discovered,  she  presently  says  there  were 
four  who  did  hurt  the  children.  Soon  she  admits 
she  had  hurt  the  children  but  was  sorry  and 
would  not  do  so  any  more.  So  she  confesses \ 
and  facts  giving  out,  she  takes  out  her  fancies 
and  lets  them  loose.  They  are  in  the  form  of 
flying  and  creeping  things  as  will  be  seen,  and  if 
the  tales  told  the  children  nightly  were  filled 
with  the  same  uncanny  shapes,  it  would  be  sin¬ 
gular  if  their  pliable  brains  were  not  put  out  of 
shape  somewhat,) 

“Tituba,  what  evil  spirit  have  you  familiarity 
with? — None. 

“Why  do  you  hurt  these  children? — I  do  not 
hurt  them. 

“Who  is  it  then  ? — The  Devil,  for  aught  I  know. 

“Did  you  never  see  the  Devil? — The  Devil 
came  to  me  and  bid  me  serve  him. 

“Who  have  you  seen? — Four  women  some¬ 
time  hurt  the  children.' 

“Who  were  they  ? — Goody  Osbum  and  Sarah 
Good,  and  I  do  not  know  who  the  others  were. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  35 

Sarah  Good  and  Osburn  would  have  me  hurt 
the  children,  but  I  would  not. 

“(She  further  saith  there  was  a  tall  man  of 
Boston  that  she  did  see.) 

“When  did  you  see  them? — Last  night  at 
Boston. 

“What  did  they  say  to  you  ? — They  said  ‘hurt 
the  children.’ 

“And  did  you  hurt  them? — No,  there  is  four 
women  and  one  man,  they  hurt  the  children  and 
then  they  lay  all  upon  me  ;  and  they  tell  me,  if  I 
will  not  hurt  the  children,  they  will  hurt  me. 

“But  did  you  not  hurt  them  ? — Yes  ;  but  I  will 
hurt  them  no  more. 

“Are  you  not  sorry  that  you  did  hurt  them  ? — 
Yes. 

“And  why,  then,  do  you  hurt  them? — They  say 
‘hurt  children,  or  we  will  do  worse  to  you.’ 

“What  have  you  seen  ? — A  man  come  to  me 
and  say,  ‘serve  me.’ 

“What  service  ? — Hurt  the  children  ;  and  last 
night  there  was  an  appearance  that  said  ‘kill  the 


jr 


h 

l  >;  ■  - ;  <  • 

• t'; 
■\  ■  •;  1 

L'  •  v  •’  ^  J 

}•  •  •  ,  ■ .  ■  »  : 

•:  ■ 

\  ■ 

'  •  • 

y ;>Y,  '  I 

-  *  • 

v.  • 

.  .1,  ,  -V,  -■< 

V 

' 

4  *s  L*  v  •  »>’ 


1'  <• 


i 

&'.> 

,  1  'J 

;  i' 

*?:>>  .  "i 

|  Wi 

■  .■ 

"re  vv»j 

j  's 

v  **  ‘ 


|  _  > ;i.  '/  ■  .  -v%:; 


»  r 


i  .»•  V  ,  ■ 1  i 

K  '  • 

fi  .  * 


36  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

children  and  if  I  would  not  go  on  hurting  the 
children,  they  would  do  worse  to  (ne. 

“What  is  this  appearance  you  see? — Some¬ 
times  it  is  like  a  hog,  and  sometimes  like  a  gteat 
dog. 

“(This  appearance  she  saith  she  did  see  four 
times.) 

“What  did  it  say  to  you? — The  black  dog  said 
‘serve  me,’  but  I  said,  ‘I  am  afraid.’  He  said 
if  I  did  not,  he  would  do  worse  to  me. 

“What  did  you  say  to  it? — I  will  serve  you  no 
longer.  Then  he  said  he  would  hurt  me ;  and 
then  he  looks  like  a  man,  and  threatens  to  hurt 
me.  (She  said  that  this  man  had  a  yellow  bird 
that  kept  with  him.)  And  he  told  me  he  had 
more  pretty  things  that  he  would  give  me  if  I 
would  serve  him. 

“What  were  these  pretty  things  ? — He  did  not 
show  me  them. 

“What  else  have  you  seen? — Two  cats;  a  red 
cat  and  a  black  cat. 

“What  did  they  say  to  you? — They  said, 
‘serve  me.’ 


<  r 


***** 


•  in 


.z 


/ 


f 


1 

j 

1 

■;> 


•i 


i 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


“When  did  you  see  them ?—  Last  night;  and 
they  said,  ‘serve  me,’  but  I  said  I  would  not. 

“What  service?— She  said,  hurt  the  children. 

“Did  you  not  pinch  Elizabeth  Hubbard  this 
morning?  —  The  man  brought  her  to  me  and 
made  pinch  her. 

“Why  did  you  go  to  Thomas  Putnam’s  last 
night  and  hurt  his  child  ?— They  pull  and  haul 
me,  and  make  go. 

“And  what  would  they  haveyoudo? — Kill  her 
with  a  knife. 

“(Lieutenant  Fuller  and  others  said  at  this  time 
when  the  child  saw  these  persons,  and  was  tor¬ 
mented  by  them,  that  she  did  complain  of  a 
knife,  that  they  would  have  her  cut  her  head  off 
with  a  knife.) 

“How  did  you  go? — We  ride  upon  sticks  and 
are  there  presently. 

“Do  you  go  through  the  trees  or  over  them  ? 
— We  see  nothing,  but  are  there  presently. 

“Why  did  you  not  tell  your  master?— I  was 


.  '  • 


*mwm 


Hi 


38 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


afraid  ;  they  said  they  would  cut  off  my  head  if  I 
told. 

“Would  you  not  have  hurt  others  if  you  could  ? 
-—They  said  they  would  hurt  others,  but  they 
could  not. 

* 

“What  attendants  hath  Sarah  Good? — A  yel¬ 
low-bird,  and  she  would  have  given  me  one. 

“What  meat  would  she  give  it? — It  did  suck 
her  between  her  fingers. 

“Did  you  not  hurt  Mr.  Curran’s  child? — 
Goody  Good  and  Goody  Osbum  told  that  they 
did  hurt  Mr.  Curran’s  child,  and  would  have  had 
me  hurt  him  too ;  but  I  did  not. 

“What  hath  Sarah  Osbum? — Yesterday,  she 
had  a  thing  like  a  woman,  with  two  legs  and 
wings. 

“(Abigail  Williams,  that  lives  with  her  uncle, 
Mr.  Parris,  said  that  she  did  see  the  same  crea¬ 
ture,  and  it  turned  into  the  shape  of  Goodie 
Osbum.) 

“What  else  have  you  seen  with  Osbum? — 


-  a 


,1 


,v  r:  * 
}  S' 


*  7 


/y  m 

'  n 


V,  , 


‘  '-.V 


1  ’•  f 


I  * : 


CTIfl.  — 


■  >*«■■ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Another  tiling,  hairy  ;  it  goes  upright  like  a  man, 
it  hath  only  two  legs. 

“Did  you  not  see  Sarah  Good  upon  Elizabeth 
Hubbard  last  Saturday  ? — I  did  see  her  set  a  wolf 
upon  her  to  afflict  her. 

“(The  persons  with  this  maid  did  say  that  she 
did  complain  of  a  wolf.  She  further  said  that 
she  saw  a  cat  with  Good  at  another  time.) 

“What  clothes  did  the  man  go  in? — He  goes 
in  black  clothes ;  a  tall  man  with  white  hair,  I 
think. 

“How  doth  the  woman  go? — In  a  white  hood 
and  a  black  hood  with  a  top-knot. 

“Do  you  see  who  it  is  that  torments  these 
children  now?  —  Yes,  it  is  Goody  Good;  she 
hurts  them  in  her  own  shape. 

Who  is  it  hurts  them  now? — I  am  blind  now ; 
I  cannot  see.” 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  COLONY  BEWITCHED. 


story  of  the  witchcraft  grows  so  awful,  that 
soon,  our  sense  of  pity  fairly  pities  itself, 
that  it  must  see  such  misery  for  the  innocent. 

But  just  here,  comes  a  wondering  compassion 
for  these  grave  magistrates  and  reverend  minis¬ 
ters  ! 

To  see  them  listening  with  respectful  attention 
to  the  nonsense  of  Tituba,  drinking  in  with  won¬ 
derment  all  her  wild  statements  of  broomsticks 
and  hairy  things,  somehow  gives  onea  disturbed 
feeling  As  to  his  ancestors ;  we  have  felt  hitherto 
that  each  “great”  appended  to  a  grandparent 
was  a  guarantee  of  wisdom  and  deserved  honor, 
but  this  picture  of  the  ignorant  but  wily  woman 
(40) 


t’  ^ 

t  ;  H 

f  -  J 

i  :•  •  'i 
(. 

* 

A ;  ^ 

• ;  i 


,  ;v 

1  V 

* 

'v": 


l 


I  •  5  • 

■  *  > .  b 

*  <;A  rv '  *•  j- 

■  i  •  • 

a  yv- . ; ;  r '  ••• 

& :  /•  -.o  •  Jju 

*  •'  V  '  ,f  ■ 

Vv.i,  •  .  'V«'  , 


>r 

•  f ; 
;•  t . 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


41 


4 

VI  4  .1  *  ’  ** 

|,  >.  JV  .*•  i  •  V  ■  a 

Lv..v  •• 

- 

o"  4  \  ’  >r- 

>  V V/., 
i  -v'  u 

f'./j  '"'i 

;  ,  •'  •/* 

6, ,  . 

A 

C  *  . 

r  "v  . 

\  .  . 

K'ro  ;*  .  *.••}( 

m  /  * 

i,v,*  « 


% 


i  *  '■*  z  • 

;  ,1 

i  I 

>  i 

1 

i 


j\',l  *'"/  4rf  ■*  V  * 

‘  ‘  'y  '  '  'j, 

*•*  w  ‘Xn1®  * 

; 

; 


gulling  the  sober  fathers  as  easily  as  she  had  the 
children,  is  a  sorrowful  one. 

The  unlearned  slave  feigns  blindness  when 
she  does  not  wish  to  answer,  but  her  judges  and 
superiors  are  totally  blind,  and  yet  unconscious 
of  it. 

^Robert  Calef  was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  and 
in  nowise  personally  interested  in  the  trials.  “His 
attention  was  called  to  the  proceedings  which 
originated  in  Salem  Village  ;  and  his  strong  facul¬ 
ties  and  moral  courage  enabled  him  to  become 
the  most  efficient  opponent,  in  his  day,  of  the 
system  of  false  reasoning  upon  which  the  prose¬ 
cutions  rested.”  The  only  further  information 
we  have  of  Tituba  is  from  this  same  Calef,  who 
says,  “The  account  she  since  gives  of  it  is,  that 
her  master  did  beat  her,  and  otherwise  abuse  her, 
to  make  her  confess  and  accuse  (such  as  he 
called)  her  sister-witches ;  and  that  whatsoever 
she  said  by  way  of  confessing  or  accusing  others 
was  the  effect  of  such  usage.”^ 

^.^^Dne  word  of  justice  for  Sarah  Good.  It  ap- 


K 


Vv ) 


’  f  • 


.  «  : 


,e , 

V\  <i'.  V  • 


a 


*  j 

.y 

*- 


f 

l  1 

‘  ,  ,  y  __ 

I  ■  v  \ 

,  ■'  "a 

0 

'  t'  • 


N  i 


m 

w-  / 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


pcared  in  the  minutes  of  her  examination,  that 
she  accused  Sarah  Osburn  of  witchcraft ;  but  as 
no  such  accusation  is  found  in  the  final  records, 
it  is  probable  that  the  statement  was  an  exaggera¬ 
tion  of  some  bewildered  words  of  hers,  on  per¬ 
ceiving  the  torments  of  the  children.  “Then  it 
must  be  Osburn  for  I  know  I  am  innocent  of  this 
thing”  was  doubtless  wrung  from  her  involunta¬ 
rily. 

Let  us  understand  fully  what  it  was  thought  the 
witch  of  1 692  could  do,  and  how  she  would  do  it. 

^  As  the  excitement  grew  more  intense  and  vic¬ 
tims  accumulated,  the  scheme  of  the  nature  and 
dominion  of  the  devil’s  agent  broadened  infi¬ 
nitely.  Indeed,  looking  back  from  this  distance, 
it  would  seem  as  if  her  capabilities  \^ere  extended 
so  absurdly  in  order  that  none  might  escape.  S 

It  was  believed  that  after  having  made  her 
evil  compact,  the  witch  set  about  tormenting 
others,  either  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  their 
souls  and  handing  them  over  to  Satan,  or  of  sim¬ 
ply  hurting  their  bodies  for  her  own  diversion. 


'  » 

■>  '  ■  V, 

Vm  * 


■ 


LS 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  43 

If  she  did  not  go  in*  her  own  personality  on  a 
tormenting  hunt,  she  had  imps  at  her  disposal  to* 
do  naughty  work.  These  took  the  form  of  cats,  V-. 

dogs,  spiders  even,  or  indeed,  any  animal  at  hand 
where  unusual  occurrences  took  place  would  be 
thought  the  imp  of  an  absent  witch.  She  could 
cause  her  victims  to  pine  away  and  die,  or  to  go 
into  convulsions  and  delirium — there  were  no 
limits  to  her  power. 

If  it  were  not  convenient  for  her  to  go  in  per¬ 
son  nor  to  send  an  imp,  all  she  had  to  do,  when 
she  intended  harm,  was  to  make  up  a  puppet 
representing  the  individual  she  would  hurt,  and 
do  whatsoever  she  would  have  done  to  the  far  off 
original,  to  this  bundle  cf  rags;  it  was  just  as 
efficacious. 

No  alibi  therefore  could  save  a  person  ac¬ 
cused,  nor  circumstantial  evidence  protect  from 
an  ensnaring  net  which  covered  the  ground  wher¬ 
ever  he  would  step. 

With  such  a  revelation  open  to  the  people, 
and  its  facts  verified  before  their  eyes  by  the 


Ml.li.lll  ■MIH'  I  H  I  HI* 


44 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLIVE. 


afflictions  of  the  afflicted  Children,  what  wonder 
that  nothing  else  was  thought  of,  that  industry 
lay  idle,  while  horror  and  dread  stalked  over  the 
land  day  and  night 

If  all  pestilence  comes  from  microbes,  surely 
the  microbes  of  superstition  were  then  abroad, 
tainting  in  its  most  malignant  form,  the  pure 
country  air  of  Salem  Village. 

The  meeting-house,  hitherto  as  sacred  to  the 
New  Englander  as  the  tabernacle  to  the  early 
Jew,  became  the  theatre  of  the  most  extraordi¬ 
nary  scenes  ever  enacted  upon  any  stage. 

“As  soon  as  the  wretched  prisoner  was  brought 
before  her  accusers,  the  girls  uttered  loud  screams 
and  fell  down  upon  the  floor.  If  in  her  terror 
and  despair  she  happened  to  clasp  her  hands, 
they  would  shriek  out  that  she  was  pinching  them. 
When  she  pressed  in  agony  her  withered  lip, 
they  exclaimed  that  she  was  biting  them,  and 
would  show  the  marks  of  her  teeth  upon  their 
flesh.  If  the  dreadful  excitement  of  the  scene, 
added  to  the  feebleness  of  age,  exhausted  and 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  45 

overcome  her,  and  she  happened  to  lean  for  sup¬ 
port  against  the  side  of  the  pew  or  the  aisle,  they 
would  cry  out  that  their  bodies  were  crushed ; 
and  if  she  changed  her  position,  or  took  a  single 
step,  they  would  declare  that  their  feet  were  in 
pain.  In  this  manner  they  artfully  produced  a 
strong  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  deluded 
magistrates  and  excited  by-standers.” 

he  accusing  girls  would  complain  that  pins 
,were  pricked  into  their  flesh,  and  in  proof  of  the 
/witch’s  malice,  the  pins  were  produced  in  Court. 

/  Those  identical  pins  may  be  seen  to  day  in  the 
\  Court  House-  They  are  kept  in  a  small  bottle 
\  protected  by  the  County  seal,  for  they  diminished 
^mysteriously  when  guarded  by  the  cork  alone. 
They  are  somewhat  rusty,  as  what  witness  would 
not  be  after  such  a  lapse  of  time ;  made  as  they 
were  in  those  days,  with  heads  formed  of  twisted 
^-the  most  famous  pins  in  all  history. 

The  house,  still  standing,  known  popularly  as 
the  “Witch”  house,  at  the  corner  of  Essex  and 
North  streets,  was  two  hundred  years  ago  the 


' 


p 


s 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  MINISTERS. 

C^HIS  supposed  attack  of  the  evil  one  upon  the 
Lord’s  sheep  gave  the  valiant  young  shep¬ 
herds  much  to  do  ;  for  as  the  trouble  came  from  the 
spiritual  world,  by  the  spiritual  pastors  and  mas¬ 
ters  it  must  be  met.  They  felt  they  must  battle 
fearlessly  against  this  new  sin,  no  matter  where  it 
was  seen  springing  up.  It  must  be  rooted  out 
and  destroyed  even  if  fair  gardens  were  brought 
to  ruin. 

The  earnestness  of  the  majority  concerned  in 
the  trials  and  examinations  arose,  doubtless,  from 
a  sincere  conviction  that  they  were  at  war  with 
the  enemies  of  the  Almighty,  and  that  they  were 
emulating  King  David  by  putting  them  to  rout. 

We  have  always  felt  that  the  Psalmist  partially 

(47) 


'  T 


r  r 


\ 


\  < 

f 


*  'i  "a 

# 

:  ■  £ 


•  'H 

* 

V  •  . 

*  •  •  .«  ^ 

■ 


•  ■  1  . 

■/< 

v.  *  •  *  n 

♦ 

'■  j- 

9:  ■ 

): 

'  .*•.  t 

V 

•1 

1 

A  A 


.  * 

•br  M 


■i 


tmm 


samm 


•>  t 


* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


gratified  his  own  feelings  while  avenging  the 
cause  of  the  Lord,  and  this  human  element  of 
finding  wrong  where  we  believe  it  to  be  was  not 
lacking  in  the  breasts  of  some  of  the  deluded 
ministers. 

^None  were  so  untiring  in  the  pursuit  of  witch¬ 
craft  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parris.  He  felt  it  was  his 
duty  to  labor  day  and  night  in  the  cause,  and  he 
did  so.  Had  he  been  a  broader  man,  with  be¬ 
nevolence  as  prominent  a  trait  as  conscientious¬ 
ness,  he  would  not  have  unconsciously  played 
the  part  of  a  persecutor.  For  one  thing  we  must 
thank  him,  and  it  redounds  to  his  credit  as  a  sin¬ 
cere  though  mistaken  man,  that  he  transcribed 
so  literally  the  examinations  of  many  of  the  ac¬ 
cused.  We  can  realize  how  faithfully  he  did  his 
work  because  we  see  innocence  in  the  replies  of 
the  accused ;  and  had  he  been  less  truthful  in  his 
record,  or  conscious  that  he  was  in  the  wrong,  he 
would  have  twisted  and  prevaricated  his  account. 

The  Rev.  Nicholas  Noyes  of  the  First  Church, 
Salem,  was  another  active  participant  in  the  pro- 


' 

v.:  ::.4 

••  -  ■  ■  i 

: 

*»  i  • 

- 

•a 

«  i 

f  - 

v 

•  ■.  i 


.  i 

■»  «.  f  j 
✓ 

1  V 


S' 


/ 


I 


"  •' 

k-V  ir-f 
fc-V  V  $ 

K».  V.  ’  ■** 

K- 

:>  ■  *  V, 

'  ■ 

k  ;  ' ! 

S'*  ;  .  ’  *  -1 

i  •  .,  \  *H 

Li  .  ■  I 

I*  .  •< 

BV  •  ■  •/  4 

L  ■  ' 

M!  vJ 


w 


I  Hill  i  Mil  WHIM 


ImI 


5° 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


learned  and  best  beloved  of  his  generation  in  the 
ministry.  One  of  the  accusing  girls,  not  com¬ 
prehending  how  universally  he  was  held  in  rever¬ 
ence,  but  perceiving  that  he  held  aloof  from  the 
popular  delirium,  presently  “cried  out”  upon  him. 
This  was  a  rash  venture,  as  the  mark  was  too 
high  for  the  shaft  to  reach  and  it  fell  harmless ; 
the  girl  was  taken  out  of  court  “and  it  was  told 
about  that  she  was  mistaken  in  the  person.” 

The  Rev.  John  Hale  of  Beverly  gave  neigh¬ 
borly  help  in  the  matter,  though  not  so  violent 
an  advocate  in  the  delusion  as  some  ;  it  will  be 
seen  later,  how  and  why  he  was  the  first  to  awake 
from  the  frenzied  nightmare. 

The  name  of  Cotton  Mather  must  always  be 
associated  with  this  melancholy  period  of  our 
history.  He  did  his  best  to  incite  and  provoke 
an  excitement  in  Boston  similar  to  the  one  in 
Salem,  and  failing  in  this  he  never  lost  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  fan  the  flame  already  raging  so  near  his 
own  city.  He  was  ambitious,  and  would  be  lead¬ 
ing  sword  in  hand  to  annihilate  some  one  or  some 


■gfr'fv  ■  v__.  _ . 

TqTv  •’  '•»r- 

E.*/  *  *  .-•‘‘s'. 

.  -  ■„  „  .  .*v  .« 

ft  \  . 


v  -V  ., 


■■hr: 


"'P.- 


;  , 

1  1  .  -  • 

■ 


'  S'* 


-  ,  % 


\i>  / 


I  . 

I 

fir 


m?  - 
§  \ 
■ 

S  ih  • 

%  ■  V  - 

• 


.  . 


,  I'"',*.*' 

V  V  < 


i  1 

V  s'- 


* 

-iv.;  i 

.  .  '  ■  ■  L  1 


'•  t. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


tiling.  In  the  name  of  God  he  would  conquer, 
and  make  Cotton  Mather  famous.  Most  men 
hope  to  become  angels,  but  nothing,  if  we  may 
judge  from  his  own  words,  would  have  contented 
him  but  to  be  an  Archangel. 

In  his  virulence  against  all  accused  persons,  he 
seems  an  embodiment  of  the  prophecy  “Yea,  the 
time  cometh  when  whosoever  killeth  you,  will 
think  that  he  doeth  God  service.” 

^And  were  there  none  then  who  saw  clearly 
through  the  deadly  mist,  no  men  wiser  than  their 
time?  The  names  of  three  clear-eyed  souls  can 
be  given,  who,  seeing  things  as  they  were,  boldly 
protested  against  the  imposture  :  Martha  Corey, 
John  Procter  and  Joseph  Putnam,  and  of  the 
three  it  is  significant  that  two  were  executed.^ 
^It  will  be  remembered  that  Tituba  had  said 
there  were  four  women  who  did  afflict  the  chil¬ 
dren,  and  it  was  necessary  to  find  the  other  IwoJ 
By  this  time  the  accusers  were  brazen  and  mali¬ 
cious,  so  intoxicated  by  the  evil  they  were  steep¬ 
ing  themselves  in,  as  to  be  lost  to  all  sense  ot 


-  *  .  v  ■*'/?..  •  •  1  V 

_  • 

•  - 


•  V  ■  >  -  ? 


’  i '  , 

NC-.  ,-v  • 


* 

I  i  ;■ 


i  5 


V 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

feeling  for  others  :  it  would  be  vastly  more  com¬ 
fortable  for  the  reader  to  believe  them  stark 
mad  and  in  no  way  responsible  for  the  crimes 
they  were  begetting.  Yet  this  is  impossible  as 
we  detect  the  cunning  and  the  heartless  cruelty 
of  their  acts  and  words.  They  were  now  mas¬ 
ters  of  the  situation  ;  savage  autocrats,  who  when 
their  own  ingenuity  failed,  would  take  hints  from 
advising  spite  and  prejudice  as  to  the  next  vic- 


A  *  ' 


<'•  ' 


y-  ;  vr 


4+  N 


•  • 

.  '  *  *V 


/ 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


GILES  COREY’S  INFATUATION — MARTHA  COREY. 

f  /0MONG  unpopular  men  in  Salem  Village  was 
Giles  Corey^Jnow  over  fourscore  years  of 
age.  According  to  the  belief  of  his  neighbors, 
they  had  not  been  godly  years,  but  whether  he 
was  as  dangerous  as  they  claimed  for  him,  or 
whether  he  was  one  of  those  who  have  a  faculty 
for  always  putting  themselves  in  the  worst  possi¬ 
ble  light  can  never  be  exactly  known.  We  in¬ 
cline,  however,  to  the  feeling  that  his.faults  were 
much  exaggerated.  Whatever  his  early  life  had 
been  Giles  Corey,  in  spite  of  his  brusque  Ways, 
had  evidently  meant  to  mend  his  reputation  and 
conduct,  and  had  joined  the  church  shortly  be¬ 
fore  this  period.  (He  became  greatly  interested 

(53) 


•mum  . .  mrnwmmtmingim  *  ■ 


— 


/ 


Ls 


54  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

in  the  witchcraft  proceedings,  and  attended  all 
the  meetings^  His  mind  was  one  of  those  on 
which  the  dark  deeds  of  sin  would  have  a  more 
"powerful  influence  than  the  passive  radiance  of 
virtue. 

("Not  so,  his  wife  Martha.  She  had  no  patience 
with  the  fanatical  doings,  and  no  hesitancy  in  ex¬ 
pressing  her  viewsj  Her  intellect  was  clear  and 
vigorous,  her  living  pure  and  devout.  {Giles  an¬ 
noyed  her  much  by  his  diligent  attendance  upon 
the  meetings, ^nd  on  one  occasion  it  was  said 
that  she  hid  her  husband’s  saddle  to  prevent  him 
from  going.  ^This  difference  of  opinion  made  a 
breach  between  husband  and  wife,  and  in  his 
anger  at  her  scoffing  at  matters  so  absorbing  to 
him,  he  made  statements  which  became  the 
.weapons  of  jigiidestnictinp  ^ 

But  when  his  eyes  were  opened,  we  shall  see 
with  what  superhuman  courage  he  expiated  the 
wrong  done  to  her.  ( So,  while  he  went  to  the 
meetings,  and  on  the  way  to  and  fro  saw  all 
things  distorted  by  supernatural  agents,  she  re- 


ill*  V?  Wv 
TV**/  •  • 


— " - " - - 

.\y )*■'*■*!  7  ■ 

|  • 

1 

r  -  : 

•  I 


fv>  /  •  .  t.'j-  ; 

r-  :  <  ■  ■  y 

.  .«  V  ,• 
fc;*  r-.  ’•/  *  *  , 


■  :  • 

I  '  ) 

. 

■" 

■ 

r  7 


mained  at  home  to  pray  for  the  deluded  people. 
Soon  it  was  rumored  about  that  a  person  pro¬ 
fessing  great  piety  would  be  exposed  as  one  of 
these  deadly  sinners,  and  on  the  19th  of  March, 
Martha  Corey  was  arrested^ 

Even  to-day,  the  criminal  who  has  masked  in 
godliness  is  considered  the  most  despicable,  and 
the  horror  of  the  community  at  finding  a  pro¬ 
fessing  Christian  could  be  in  league  with  the 
devil  was  intense. 

The  examination  of  Martha  Corey,  in  the  hand¬ 
writing  of  Mr.  Parris,  is  of  considerable  length, 
.but  a  few  extracts  will  be  given  from  it  which 
may  illustrate  her  character. 

“If  you  be  guilty  of  this  fact,  do  you  think  you 
can  hide  it  ? — The  Lord  knows. 

“Well,  tell  us  what  you  know  of  this  matter. — 
Why,  I  am  a  gospel  woman,  and  do  you  think  I 
can  have  to  do  with  witchcraft  too  ? 

“(Children  :  There  is  a  man  whispering  in  her 
ear.) 

“Hathorne  continued :  What  did  he  say  to 


pwawfa 


'  '  •  i  • 

L.<*  *4 :  ,**<  .  ..(•»  . v 

iV, 


t  " 


* 


\  .  ‘ 


*  <1  , 

\  •>-.  ;*  . 

\u  \  .  *.  < 

y*  '  ■-  * 


.‘A* 


.*  '  S" 


^ . mm' 


■  * 


r  V.  ». 


L':.  •  1 


t 

1 V*  ■  *  > 


9  *  r  • 


1  v 

*0*  *1 


•  ’  0 

% 


,  v, 

V"*' 


■ 

'.1  *  * 

*#<.0  \ 


, 

!  •  . 


>  ' 


56  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

you? — We  must  not  believe  all  that  these  dis¬ 
tracted  children  say. 

“Cannot  you  tell  what  that  man  whispered  ? — 
I  saw  nobody. 

“But  did  you  hear? — No. 

“(Here  was  extreme  agony  of  the  afflicted.) 

“If  you  expect  mercy  of  God,  you  must  look 
for  it  in  God’s  way,  by  confession.  Do  you  think 
to  find  mercy  by  aggravating  your  sins? — A  true 
thing. 

“Look  for  it,  then,  in  God’s  way. — So  I  do. 

“Give  glory  to  God  and  confess  then.— But  I 
cannot  confess. 

“Do  you  not  see  how  these  afflicted  charge 
you?— We  must  not  believe  distracted  persons. 

“Here  are  more  than  two  that  accuse  you  for 
witchcraft.  What  do  you  say? — I  am  innocent. 

“(Then  Mr.  Hathorneread  further  of  Crosby’s 
evidence.) 

“What  did  you  mean  by  that?  the  Devil  could 
not  stand  before  you? — (She  denied  it.  Three 
or  four  sober  witnesses  confirmed  it.) 


Z’ 


I 


in  it. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


“What  can  I  do  ?  Many  rise  tip  against  me. 
“Do  you  believe  these  children  are  bewitched  ? 
—They  may,  for  aught  I  know :  I  have  no  hand 


You  say  you  are  no  witch.  May  be  you  mean 
you  never  covenanted  with  the  Devil.  Did  you 
never  deal  with  any  familiar?— No,  never. 

“What  bird  was  that  the  children  spoke  of? 

“(Then  witnesses  spoke  :  What  bird  was  it?) _ 

I  know  no  bird. 

“It  may  be  you  have  engaged  you  will  not  con¬ 
fess  :  but  God  knows.— So  He  doth. 

-  “Do  you  believe  you  will  go  unpunished? — 
I  have  nothing  to  do  with  witchcraft. 

“Why  was  you  not  willing  your  husband  should 
come  to  the  former  session  here?— But  he  came, 
for  all. 

“Did  you  not  take  the  saddle  off? — I  did  not 
know  what  it  was  for. 

“Did  you  not  know  what  it  was  for?— I  did 
not  know  it  would  Jje  to  any  benefit. 

“  (Somebody  said  that  she  would  not  have  them 
help  to  find  witches.) 


.  .  V,*  V  -  • 


V.  * 


.  •  -v. « 

,.  V  •  •  •  -  •  *  ..  • 

-.A*  *  \  ‘  '■ 

%  *  • 
r  * 

•  •  .  •  r, 

.  s 


I MM 


■  in  i  mmff 


5^  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

Did  you  not  say  you  would  open  our  eyes? 
Wiiy  do  you  not?— I  never  thought  of  a  witch. 

“Is  it  a  laughing  matter  to  see  these  afflicte^ 
persons  ? 

“(She  denied  it.  Several  prove  it.) 

Ye  are  all  against  me,  and  I  cannot  help  it. 

“I  find  you  will  own  nothing  without  several 
witnesses,  and  yet  you  will  deny  for  all. 

(It  was  noted,  when  she  bit  her  lip,  several 
of  the  afflicted  were  bitten.  When  she  was  urged 
upon  it  that  she  had  bitten  her  lip,  saith  she, 
W  hat  harm  is  there  in  it  ?) 

“(Mr.  Noyes  :  I  believe  it  is  apparent  she  prac¬ 
tised!  witchcraft  in  the  congregation ;  there  is  no 
need  of  images.) 


'•tX,  '  'Vtv1 


tmm 


What  do  you  say  to  all  these  things  that  are 
apparent?  If  you  will  all  go  hang  me,  how  can 
I  help  it?” 

Her  answers  indicate  an  alert  but  temperate 
mind,  with  firm  faith  in  God.  Frequently  dur¬ 
ing  the  course  of  the  examination  she  asked  per¬ 
mission  to  go  and  pray,  and  asseverated  many 
times,  “I  am  an  innocent  person.”  “I  am  a 


. 


SALF.M  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


gospel  woman.”  This  desire  of  hers  to  pray 
evidently  disconcerted  the  court  at  first,  but  the 
devotions  were  accounted  for  after  a  time  as  be¬ 
ing-addressed  to  the  devil. 

'  Income  respects,  her  attitude  differs  from  any 
other  as  she  stands  before  this  deladed  multi¬ 
tude.  Her  piety  was  just  as  true  as  that  of  later 
victims,  but  she  does  not  believe  in  witchcraft. 
Her  tongue  is  as  .well  trained  by  her  keen  intel¬ 
lect  as  that  of  clever  prisoners  who  followed,  but  she 
never  once  railsat  her  tormentors  as  did  the  caus¬ 
tic  Susannah  Martin,  though  it  must  have  been  a 
great  temptation  from  her  enlightened  standpoint. 
The  moderation  and  calmness  of  Martha  Corey 
are  the  successful  tests  of  her  faith. 

Yet  how  great  was  her  provocation.  As  if  it 
were  not  enough  to  have  the  world  against  her, 
her  husband  and  her  two  sons-in-law  were  on  the 
enemies’  side.  Poor  old  Giles  !  his  tardy  religion, 
meeting  the  new  excitement,  made  a  combina¬ 
tion  too  strong  for  the  domestic  peace,  and  his 
talk  on  the  subject,  doubtless  poured  forth  with 


^  ' 


OO  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

the  impetuosity  characteristic  of  the  man,  was  put 
into  a  deposition  found  among  the  documents. 

I  he  evidence  of  Giles  Corey  testifieth  and 
sailh,  that  last  Saturday,  in  the  evening,  sitting 
by  the  fire,  my  wife  asked  me  to  go  to  bed.  I 
told  her  I  would  go  to  prayer ;  and  when  I  went 
to  prayer,  I  could  not  utter  my  desires  with  any 
sense,  nor  open  my  mouth  to  speak. 

“My  wife  did  perceive  it,  and  came  towards 
me,  and  said  she  was  coming  to  me. 

After  this,  in  a  little  space,  I  did,  according 
to  my  measure,  attend  the  duty. 

“Sometime  last  week,  I  fetched  an  ox,  well, 
out  of  the  wood  about  noon  ;  and  he  laying  down 
in  the  yard,  I  went  to  raise  him  to  yoke  him  ;  but 
he  could  not  rise,  but  dragged  his  hinder  parts, 
as  if  he  had  been  hip-shot.  But  after  did  rise; 

‘  I  had  a  cat  sometimes  last  week  strangely 
taken  on  the  sudden,  and  did  make  me  think 
she  would  have  died  presently.  My  wife  did  bid 
me  knock  her  in  the  head,  but  I  did  not ;  and 
since,  she  is  well. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


“Another  time,  going  to  duties,  I  was  inter¬ 
rupted  for  a  space  ;  but  afterward  I  was  helped 
according  to  my  poor  measure.  My  wife  hath 
been  wont  to  sit  up  after  I  went  to  bed  ;  and  I 
have  perceived  her  to  kneel  down  on  the  hearth, 
as'  if  she  were  at  prayer,  but  heard  nothing. 

“At  the  examination  of  Sarah  Good  and 
others,  March  24"',  1692,  my  wife  was  willing” 

This  is  all.  The  trivial  events  of  every  day 
life,  with  the  lurid  light  of  the  hour  thrown  upon 
them,  were  distorted  into  impish  acts.  This 
light  burned  out,  we  can  see  nothing,  but  the  or¬ 
dinary  doings  of  a  New  England  farmhouse  as 
it  stands  in  the  broad  light  of  day. 

That  an  old  man  could  not  say  his  prayers 
even  seemed  diabolical. 

^ Martha  Corey  was  committed  to  prison  ;  was 
tried  and  received  sentence  of  denth-Ss^-T^iP 
being  one  of  the  eight  executed  thf*  ??nd-f4- 
September. 

Of  her  death  Calef  informs  us  that  she  “pro¬ 
testing  her  innocency  concluded  her  life  with  an 
eminent  prayer  upon  the  ladder. :y 

r 


>  - 


( 


/ 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Giles  corey’s  expiation. 

TTS)HETHER  the  deposition  of  Corey  was 
abruptly  broken  off  because  he  feared  it 
might  incriminate  his  wife,  or  whether  it  was 
thought  by  the  prosecution  that  the  testimony 
did  not  incriminate  her  sufficiently  cannot  be 
known. 

Even  an  obtuse  observer  rritiy  have  remarked 
by  this  time,  that  the  whole  court  and  all  the 
spectators  appeared  to  be  on  the  side  of  the 
prosecution. 

“Giles  Corey  incurred  hostility,  perhaps, 
because  his  deposition  relating  to  his  wife  did 
not  come  up  to  the  mark  required.  It  is  also 
highly  probable,  that  though  incensed  at  her  con¬ 
duct  at  the  time,  reflection  had  brought  him  to 
(62) 


1  -  # 


■  <  !  » 

'v  ■ 

■  /  ,y,_ 


.V-  • 

V  .* 


•  t. 


•  j 


. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


his  senses ;  and  that  the  circumstances  of  her  ex¬ 
amination  and  commitment  to  prison  produced 
a  reaction  on  his  mind.  If  so,  he  would  have 
been  apt  to  express  himself  very  freely.  He,  too, 
was_ari^,sl£d-aad_liig__examination  Jnnk  plgr» 
April  19,  in  nature  very  like  those  which  pre- 
^cedecT  “  ~ 

“Three  days  before  the  execution  of  his  wife,,' 
the  life  of  Giles  Corey  had  been  taken  by  the' 
officers  of  the  law  in  a  manner  so  extraordinary, 
and  marked  by  features  so  shocking,  that  they 
find  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of  America,  and 
will  continue  to  arrest  forever  the  notice  of  man¬ 
kind.  The  only  papers  relating  to  him,  on  file 
as  having  been  sworn  to  before  the  Grand  Jury, 
are  a  few  brief  depositions.  If  he  had  been  put 
on  trial,  we  might  have  had  more.  There  is 
reason  to  believe,  that  while  in  prison,  he  ex¬ 
perienced  great  distress  of  mind.  Although  he 
had  been  a  rough  character  in  earlier  life,  and 
given  occasion  to  much  scandal  by  his  disregard 
of  public  opinion,  he  always  exhibited  symptoms 


«  .  ?  • 

•  v  ■, 

•  * 

p:  v’V. 

;  ‘  '  j,"  r  .  .■  " 

. 

h  V 

jte  ';•  r.- 

I  ,7.  ♦ 

■  • "  •’ 

p  '  \  •■'  : 

• "  ,  V„ ...  < 

v  • 

j. :-v;V:?, •• 

*  j 

>.  *; 


JBfer 

f 

|r:  .  i 

| 

. 

•  i '  •'  •  • 

>/?  ■  « }  ;  >  .  ,  Jr 


.  < 

a 


&■■■•  .V; .  ■  -  ... 

Q.1'  ^Iji  .J  ■•  ;1  *  ••••;• 


64 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


of  a  generous  and  sensitive  nature.  His  foolish 
conduct  in  becoming  so  passionately  engaged  in 
the  witchcraft  proceedings  at  their  earliest  stage, 
as  to  he  incensed  against  his  wife  because  she 
did  not  approve  of  or  believe  in  them,  and  which 
led  him  to  utter  sentiments  and  expressions  that 
had  been  used  against  her ;  and  so  far  yielding 
to  the  accusers  as  to  allow  them  to  get  from  him 
the  deposition,  which,  while  it  failed  to  satisfy 
their  demands,  it  was  shameful  for  him  to  have 
been  persuaded  to  give, — all  these  things,  which 
after  his  own  apprehension  and  imprisonment 
he  had  leisure  to  ponder  over,  preyed  on  his 
mind.  He  saw  the  awful  character  of  the  delu¬ 
sion  to  which  he  had  lent  himself;  that  it  had 
brought  his  prayerful  and  excellent  wife  to  the 
sentence  of  death,  which  had  been  already  exe¬ 
cuted  upon  many  devout  and  worthy  persons. 
He  knew  that  he  was  innocent  of  the  crime  of 
witchcraft,  and  was  now  satisfied  that  all  others 
were. 

Besides  his  own  unfriendly  course  towards  his 


< 


<;,•  •  ¥>*••  1. 


ft 

*  . .  •  „  a 

i  .  •  .  _ 

..  .  • 

PV-K  '  *  * 


.  -  ■ 


■  '  ;!  i  K 


■s 


I 

/,  - 

V  > 

r  ' 

i  .1 


.1  V  .4  - 


'  ' 

| 

.  -*  a 

<  ^ 

.  ■’  * 


I  r  J 


* 

I  ; : 

1  ♦-  ,  * 

•3 


m 


■  "  i 

1 

Li '  *  >.>£?<•£ 


■  ■' 

•i . 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

wife,  two  of  his  four  sons-in-law  had  turned 
against  her.  One  (Crosby)  had  testified  and 
another  (Parker)  had  allowed  his  name  to  be 
used,  as  an  adverse  witness. 

In  view  of  all  this,  Corey  made  up  his  mind, 
determined  on  his  course,  and  stood  to  that  de¬ 
termination.  He  resolved  to  expiate  his  own 
folly  by  a  fate  that  would  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  sternest  criticism  upon  his  conduct,  proclaim 
his  abhorrence  of  the  prosecutions,  and  attest  the 
strength  of  his  feelings  towards  those  of  his  chil¬ 
dren  who  had  been  false,  and  those  who  had 
been  true,  to  his  wife.” 

He  therefore  had  a  will  made,  or  more  proper¬ 
ly  a  deed,  by  which  he  gave  all  his  property  to 
his  “beloved  sons-in-law  William  Cleevesof  Bev¬ 
erly  and  John  Moulton  of  Salem  it  was  a 
strong,  clear  document,  duly  signed  and  witnessed. 

His  whole  property  being  thus  securely  con¬ 
veyed  to  his  faithful  sons-in-law,  ^nd  placed 
beyond  the  reach  of  his  own  weakness  or  change 
of  purpose,  Corey  resolved  on  a  course  that  would 


i’.v  5  v-.-  \  ;• 

K  ^ 

’r"  '■  v*  "  s  • 

■  »  *“  *  • '  *1  •  ■+  s 

■ 

ir-i 

fi'i  ••  .  ' 


■  •  '  . 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


surely  try  to  the  utmost  the  power  of  human  endur¬ 
ance.  He  knew,  that  if  brought  to  trial  his  death 
was  certain.  He  did  not  know  but  that  conviction 
and  execution,  through  the  attainder  connected 
with  it,  might  invalidate  all  attempts  of  his  to 
convey  his  property.  But  it  was  certain,  that  if 
he  should  not  be  brought  to  trial  and  conviction, 
his  deed  would  stand,  and  nothing  could  break 
it  or  defeat  its  effect.  He  accordingly  made  up 
his  mind  not  to  be  tried.  £\Vhen  called  into 
Court  to  answer  to  the  indictment  found  by  the 
Grand  Jury,  he  did  not  plead  “Guilty”  or  “Not 
Guilty,”  but  stood  muteT^  How  often  he  was 
called  forth,  we  are  not  informed  ;  but  nothing 
could  shake  him.  No  power  on  earth  could  un¬ 
seal  his  lips. 

He  knew  that  the  gates  of  justice  were  closed, 
and  that  truth  had  fled  from  the  scene.  He 
would  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter ;  refused 
to  recognize  the  court,  made  no  response  to  its 
questions,  and  was  dumb  in  its  presence.  He 
stands  alone  in  the  resolute  defiance  of  his  atti- 


jfe';  •  *  > 

,  tt  i‘f  ’  i 

•  .■  •’  -1 

• 

* 

WA 

‘V.t  '  ■"  A 

j 

,  \  ■* 

-  /  ■ 

\*>t  ->■// 

;  • 

•*  !  '  1 

SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  67 

tude.  He  knew  the  penalty  of  suffering  and 
agony  he  would  have  to  pay  ;  but  he  freely  and 
fearlessly  encountered  it.  All  that  was  needed 
to  carry  his  point  was  an  unconquerable  firmness, 
and  he  had  it.  He  rendered  it  impossible  td 
bring  him  to  trial ;  and  thereby,  in  spite  of  the 
power  and  wrath  of  the  whole  country  and  its 
authorities,  retained  his  right  to  dispose  of  his 
property,  and  bore  his  testimony  against  the  folly 
and  wickedness  of  the  hour,  in  tones  that  reached 
the  whole  world,  and  will  resound  through  all 
ages.” 

Such  an  unusual  move  on  the  part  of  a  prisoner 
must  have  filled  the  Court  with  consternation. 
To  deprive  the  magistrates  and  clergy  of  their 
rightful  occupation,  to  furnish  no  horrors  for  the 
excited  spectators,  and  to  leave  the  afflicted 
children  unafflicted,  was  more  exasperating  than 
anything  Giles  Corey  had  done  in  the  course  of 
his  long  and  contentious  life. 

Yet  there  he  stood,  with  feeble  limbs  and 
broken  spirit,  a  Colossus  of  strength. 


tm 


- iHa - --  - 


r 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


We  know  how  the  Court  dealt  with  its  contu¬ 
macious  prisoner,  although  none  of  the  partic¬ 
ulars  have  been  handed  down. 

The  old  English  law  applying  to  such  cases 
was  as  follows  :  The  prisoner  was  called  three 
times  to  plead,  and  if  he  remained  obstinate  was 
sent  to  a  low  dark  prison  cell.  He  was  there  to 
be  laid  on  the  bare  floor  nearly  naked,  and  for 
a  covering,  a  heavy  iron  weight  placed  upon  his 
body,  not  enough  to  crush  his  life  out,  but  to 
press  out  his  courage.  A  little  of  the  worst 
bread  one  day,  and  a  few  sips  of  miserable  water 
the  next,  was  to  be  the  alternate  fare  of  the  poor 
wretch  until  he  either  died,  or  succumbed  to  the 
torture  and  made  reply.  But  no  reply  came 
from  Giles  Corey.  At  his  sufferings,  before  the 
weight  and  weakness  released  his  brave  spirit,  we 
can  only  guess  with  a  sickening  wonder. 

Can  we  think  of  any  character  in  fiction  to 
equal  this  old  man  in  grandeur?  We  have  shed 
tears  for  King  Lear,  whose  hoary  locks  are  driven 
by  the  storm,  but  for  this  aged  hero,  the  product 


[ 

BO  ''  "'■'I*  .  ,  •  —  -  .  ,  '  .  : 


■»v  k"\.  ■  •  v  ••  •  . 

I  • 

r  t  *  * 

[  • 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


of  our  own  soil,  the  heart  stands  still  with  silent 
awe. 

^Tradition  has  it  that  his  death  took  place  in 
the  open  field  near  the  jail,  somewhere  between 
Howard-street  burial  ground  and  Brown  street. 
Like  Rebecca  Nurse,  Giles  Corey  was  excom¬ 
municated  from  the  Church,  Mr.  Noyes  hasten¬ 
ing  to  pronounce  doom  upon  the'prisoner  when 
it  was  found  he  would  not  yield  to  torture.^ 


> 


■w;. '  'if  i  ii  >»  mmt*wmvT 


wUMf.Di  yjv«  ■  J  i; !» WWW 


CHAPTER  X. 


REBECCA, NURSE, 


TT  was  now  time  to  produce  the  fourth  woman 
whom  _Tituba  had  seen  afflict  the  children. 

\The  amazement  felt  by  the  neighbors  of  Re¬ 
becca  Nurse  at  finding  her  numbered  among 
the  accused^  survives  as  a  marvel  for  us  to-day. 
^  Her  years  were  threescore  and  ten,  and  they 
had  been  passed  in  exemplary  living :  in  her 
home,  the  honored  mother  of  a  large  family 
reared  in  careful  piety,  and  in  the  community 
occupying  a  position  of  dignity  as  befitting  a  ven¬ 
erable  matron.  Moreover  her  health  was  failing 
and  the  infirmities  of  age  settling  upon  her!\^ 
The  only  clew  to  the  mystery  seems  to  be  in 
the  prosperous  condition  of  the  Nurse  family  and 
because  of  the  home  they  were  then  occupying. 
This  farm  known  then  as  the  Townsend- Bishop 


I 


farm  adjoined  the  farms  of  several  other  promi¬ 
nent  people.  Boundary  lines  were  then  sources 
of  much  dispute,  the  grants  of  land  never  having 
been  properly  surveyed  in  the  first  place.  The 
three  hundred  acres  belonging  to  the  Townsend- 
Bishop  farm,  would  be  found  to  overlap  the  three 
hundred  acres  of  other  grants,  and  these  other 
farms,  measuring  from  their  starting  points,  would 
be  found  to  intersect  the  Townsend-Bishop  land. 
Dissensions  arose  naturally  from  these  unsettled 
boundaries,  and  the  most  pugnacious  man  on 
the  edge  of  his  domain  would  be  for  the  time 
victorious. 

These  troubles  had  been  of  long  standing,  and 
without  going  more  deeply  into  the  controversy, 
the  significant  fact  must  be  noted,  that  the  family 
occupying  the  central  position  in  the  debatable 
land,  was  one  of  those  for  whom  misfortune  was 
meted  out. 

/^Rebecca  Nurse,  the  wife  of  Francis  Nurse, 
and  her  sister  Mary  Easty  suffered  death  ;  while 
another  sister,  Sarah  XMoyse,  was  accused  and 
committed  for  trial, 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  7 1 


> 


I 


I***1*? 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


y  Her  gentle  and  lovely  disposition)^  illustrated 
by  the  following  paper : 

“We  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  desired  to 
go  to  Goodman  Nurse  his  house,  to  speak  with  his  wife, 
and  to  tell  her  that  several  of  the  afflicted  persons  men¬ 
tioned  her;  and  accordingly  we  went,  and  we  found  her 
in  a  weak  and  low  condition  in  body  as  she  told  us,  and 
had  been  sick  almost  a  week.  And  we  asked  how  it  was 
otherwise  with  her;  and  she  said  she  blessed  God  for  it, 
she  had  more  of  his  presence  in  this  sickness  than  some¬ 
time  she  have  had,  but  not  so  much  as  she  desired;  but 
she  would  with  the  apostle,  press  forward  to  the  mark; 
and  many  other  places  of  Scripture  to  the  like  purpose. 
And  then,  of  her  own  accord,  she  began  to  speak  of  the 
affliction  that  was  amongst  them,  and  in  particular  of  Mr. 
Parris  his  family,  and  how  she  was  grieved  for  them, 
though  she  had  not  been  to  see  them,  by  reason  of  fits 
that  she  formerly  used  to  have;  for  people  said  it  was 
awful  to  behold;  but  she  pitied  them  with  all  her  he'’.r,1- 
and  went  to  God  for  them.  But  she  said  she  heard  that 
there  was  persons  spoke  of  that  were  as  innocent  as  she 
was,  she  believed;  and,  after  much  to  this  purpose,  we 
told  her  we  heard  that  she  was  spoken  of  also.  ‘Well,’ 
she  said,  ‘if  it  be  so,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done;’  she 
sat  still  awhile,  being  as  it  were  amazed;  and  then  she 
said,  ‘Well,  as  to  this  thing,  I  am  as  innocent  os  the 


— 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


73 


child  unborn;  but  surely,’  she  said,  ‘What  sin  hath  God 
found  out  in  me  unrepented  of,  that  he  should  lay  such 
an  affliction  upon  me  in  my  old  age?’  And,  according 
to  our  best  observation  we  could  not  discern  that  she 
knew  what  we  came  for  before  we  told  her. 

Israel  Forter, 
Elizabeth  Porter. 

"To  the  substance  of  what  is  above,  we,  if  called  thereto 
are  ready  to  testify  on  oath. 

Daniel  Andrew, 
Peter  Cloyse.” 

To  prepare  a  friend  for  bad  news  is  always  a 
painful  errand  ;  to  warn  a  venerable  saint  that  she 
must  expect  martyrdom,  must  have  indeed  been 
a  hard  task.  Her  unconsciousness  of  coming 
evil,  the  beautiful  and  unrepining  way  in  which 
she  received  the  dreadful  tidings,  is  one  of  the 
most  touching  scenes  in  the  long  tragedy. 

She  bore  the  examination  with  steadfast  dig¬ 
nity  and  heavenly  patience.  The  questions  put 
to  her  were  but  a  repetition  of  those  in  previous 
cases,  while  the  proceedings  were  interrupted  as 
usual  by  fits  and  ravings.  One  woman,  so 
wrought  upon  by  the  excitement  as  to  be  tem- 


'A 


L 


■%  . 


.  A 


s' 


> 


I 


i 

i 

r 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE 


porarily  insane,  threw  her  muff  at  the  prisoner, 
and  missing  the  mark,  took  off  her  shoe,  and  with 
this  hit  the  poor  old  lady  in  the  head. 

Firmly  and  repeatedly  she  protested  her  inno¬ 
cence  against  the  extravagant  charges  brought 
against  her. 

Finally  Hathorne  put  this  question: 

“Do  you  think  these  suffer  against  their  wills?’’ 

She  answered,  “I  do  not  think  these  suffer 
against  their  wills.” 

“To  this  point  she  was  not  afraidor  unwilling  to 
go,  in  giving  an  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  the 
accusing  girls.  Infirm,  half  deaf,  cross-questioned, 
circumvented,  surrounded  with  folly,  uproar  and 
outrage,  as  she  was,  they  could  not  intimidate  her 
to  say  less,  or  entrap  her  to  say  more.” 

Then  another  line  of  incriminating  questions 
was  started  by  the  magistrate:  “Why  did  you 
never  visit  the  afflicted  persons? — Because  I  was 
afraid  I  should  have  fits  too.” 

On  every  motion  of  her  body,  “fits  followed 
upon  the  complainants,  abundantly  and  very  fre¬ 
quently.” 


;> 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


75’ 


Finding  neither  justice  nor  mercy  could  be 
seen,  she  exclaimed,  “I  have  got  nobody  to  look 
to  but  God.” 

( At  the  time  of  her  trial,  a  pap£r  signed  by 
thirty-nine  persons  of  the  highest  respectability, 
testifying  as  to  the  blameless  character  of  Re¬ 
becca  Nurse  was  offered  in  testimony.^The  jury, 


1  Wo  whose  names  arc  hereunto  subscribed,  being  desired 
by  Goodman  Nurse  to  declare  what  we  know  concerning  Ills 
wife’s  conversation  for  time  past,  we  can  testify  to  all  whom 
It  may  concern  that  we  have  known  her  for  many  years;  and 
according  to  our  observation,  her  life  and  conversation  were 
accordingtohcrprofession.and  wenever  had  any  grounds  or 
cause  to  suspect  her  of  any  such  thing  as  she  is  now  accused 
of. 


Israel  Forter,  Elizabeth  Porter,  Edward  Bishop,  Sr.,  Han¬ 
nah  Bishop,  Joshua  Rea,  Sarah  Rea,  Sarah  Leach,  John 
Futnam,  Rebecca  Putnam,  Joseph  Hutchinson,  Sr.,  Lydia 
Hutchinson  William  Osburn,  Hannah  Osburn,  Joseph  Hol¬ 
ton,  Sr.,  Sarah  Holton,  Benjamin  Putnam,  Sarah  Putnam, 
Job  Swinnerton,  Esther  Swinncrton,  Joseph  Herrick,  Sr., 
Samuel  Abbey,  Hepzibah  Rea,  Daniel  Andrew,  Sarah  An¬ 
drew,  Daniel  Rea,  Sarah  Putnam,  Jonathan  Putnam,  Lydia 
Putnam, Walter  Phillips,  Sr., Nathaniel  Felton,  Sr.,  Margaret 
Phillips,  Tabitha  Phillips,  Joseph  Houtton,  Jr.,  Samuel  Endi- 
cott,  Elizabeth  Buxton,  Samuel  Aborn,  Sr/,  Isnac  Cook, 
Elizabeth  Cook,  Joseph  Putnam. 


-> 


I 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

impressed  by  her  conduct  and  conversation,  in 
spite  of  the  prevailing  excitement  against  any 
accused  person,  brought  in  a  verdict  of  “Not 
Guilty  ”^1 

his  did  not  please  the  clamorous  mob,  any 
more  than  the  judgment  of  Pilate  satisfied  those 
who  wished  to  crucify  Christ.J 
(The  demented  people,  trampling  reason  under 
foot  in  their  fury,  so  intimidated  the  judges  that 
the  favorable  verdict  was  wid.c’.iawn,  and  Rebecca 
Nurse  condemned  to  die  by  the  grossest  perver¬ 
sion  of  justice  in  the  annals  of  our  country.^ 

(_  Nor  was  a  violent  death  the  only  sentence  or¬ 
dered  against  this  innocent  woman.  Not  content 
with  destroying  her  body,  her  persecutors  took 
it  upon  themselves  to  settle  her  eternal  doom,  and 
she  was  therefore  excommunicated  from  the 
church.  ^ 

Hutchinson  thus  comments  on  the  episode. 

^  “Mr.  Noyes,  the  minister  of  Salem,  a  zealous  pros¬ 
ecutor,  excommunicated  the  poor  old  woman,  and 
delivered  her  to  Satan,  to  whom  he  supposed  she 


'■  .•/ 

i*  V  ,* 

1  A  '  * 

j 

■  ; 

v  ,  ’  ’  *1 

• 

'  (  <  v-\ 

.V 

•J 

V 

.i 

/ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


77 


had  given  herself  formally  many  years  before  ;  but 
her  life  and  conversation  had  been  such,  that  the 
remembrance  thereof,  in  a  short  time  after,  wiped 
off  all  the  reproach  occasioned  by  the  civil  or 
ecclesiastical  sentence  against  her.”  J 
Twenty  years  after,  the  notice  of  the  excom¬ 
munication  of  Rebecca  Nurse  was  erased  from 
the  church  record  at  the  request  of  her  children, 
o  [Vhe  bodies  of  executed  witches  were  not  al¬ 
lowed  to  receive  Christian  burial,  and  were  hud¬ 
dled  into  holes  among  the  rocks  of  Gallows  Hill.  J 
But  family  tradition  among  her  descendants, 
has  always  maintained  that  the  body  of  Rebecca 
Nurse  was  recovered  by  her  devoted  husband  and 
sons,  and  tenderly  buried  near  her  old  home. 

From  this  historic  house,  kept  in  perfect  re¬ 
pair  by  the  family  now  in  possession,  can  be  seen 
a  pine  grove  where  it  is  supposed  she  sleeps ;  while, 
watching  the  spot,  a  granite  monument  now  stands, 
testifying  in  her  behalf  forever. 


# 


, 


<A.  V'  -y 

•V;\!;  j. 

•  ■ 
•<  • ,  , 

\  if  V 


irfi  - ;  *  ■•••  - g 


CHAPTER  XI. 


A  VERY  YOUNG  WITCH - INTREPID  JOSEPH  PUTNAM 

JOHN  AND  ELIZABETH  PROCTER. 


iOTHING  could  more 


perfectly  show  the 
G  disorder  of  men’s  minds  at  this  time,  than 
the  appearance  of  the  next  person  brought  be¬ 
fore  the  Court  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft.  Be¬ 
hold  a  wee  girl  of  between  four  and  five  years 
old,  said  to  be  “hale  and  well  as  other  children,” 
little  Dorcas  Good,  the  child  of  Sarah  Good,  al- 
ready  committed  to  prison?  As~ shiT sits  before 
this  company  of  witch-finders,  we  wonder  no  one 
of  the  ministers  were  reminded  of  the  little  child 
whom  Christ  set  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples,  as 
signifying  who  were  ready  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  (jhey  did  not  find  this  baby  guilty, 
however,  though  she  was  imprisoned  for  months.' 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


^Animals  were  also  tlyjught  to  be  possessed  of 
Satan.  There  is  record  of  the  execution  of  a  dog 
for  witchcraft.^ 

f  Among  other  fancies  regarding  a  witch,  it  was 
believed  that  he  or  she  could  aot  shed  tears.  It 
is  a  fact,  that  age  dries  up  these  natural  fountains 
of  grief;  but  facts  counted  for  nothing  in  that 
tribunal,  neither  would  a  horror  that  turns  an  in¬ 
nocent  person  to  stony  despair  be  recognized 
as  anything  but  proof  of  guilt,  even  though  its 
agony  was  deeper  than  floods  of  weeping^ 

The  expression  an  “evil  eye”  dates  from  this 
period.  It  was  thought  that  when  a  witch  looked 
upon  her  victim,  an  invisible  fluid  or  evil  spell 
passed  from  her  to  the  brain  of  the  accuser  caus¬ 
ing  the  dreadful  fits  and  convulsions  which  there¬ 
upon  took  place.  If  the  witch  were  ordered  to 
touch  the  distressed  person,  this  fluid  or  current 
would  pass  back  again  whence  it  came,  and 
the  afflicted  were  instantly  relieved. 

This,  all  could  see  for  themselves. 

There  was  a  book  pertaining  to  the  devil  which 


s' 


■Willi. m„  imiHPii.m 

«WHK' 


I4I  UU  ' 


!*PP" 


8o 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


figures  largely  in  the  testimony.  Sometimes  he 
brings  it  himself  to  be  signed  by  the  servants  he 
would  secure,  but  quite  as  often  it  is  presented  by 
his  sub-agents  who  importune  with  dire  threats' 
if  the  contract  bebot  accepted.  This  diabolical 
volume  is  generally  described  as  black,  though  on 
one  occasion,  at  least,  a  more  intense  sensation 
being  desired,  it  was  called  “red  as  blood.” 

As  we  have  previously  observed,  the  stories  of 
witnesses  grew  more  awful  as  the  trials  increased  ; 
fantastic  and  monstrous  scenes  were  detailed  to 
the  Court  where  the  devil  and  his  witches  held 
converse  together  sealing  the  sacrament  of  their 
hellish  bond  by  drinking  the  blood  of  their  vic¬ 
tims. 

Let  us  refresh  our  minds  for  a  moment  by  look¬ 
ing  at  one  superb  picture  in  this  gallery ;  one 
though  hanging  side  by  side  with  those  of  tragic 
fate,  has  no  sorrowful  experience  in  its  history. 

Joseph  Putnam  was  one  of  the  three  citizens 
of  Salem  village,  who  protested  from  the  first 
against  the  witchcraft  proceedings  although  his 


r  4r 


I 

?  . 


I 


.  % 


„  I 


.  •  ■■'A' 


•  1 

. 

■ ,  v'  • 


J  >. 


•  v 


1 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  8 1 

two  brothers,  Thomas  and  Deacon  John  Putnam, 
were  actively  concerned  in  the  alTair.  Yet  Jo¬ 
seph  knew  better,  and  instead  of  keeping  his 
superior  knowledge  to  himself  lost  no  occasion 
of  proclaiming  the  whole  thing  a  fraud  and  a  de- 
lusiom^He  absented  himself  from  meeting,  which 
in  those  days  was  a  much  more  significant  fact 
for  the  head  of  a  family  to  do  than  it  is  now,  and 
when  it  was  time  for  his  young  child  to  be  bap¬ 
tized  carried  the  infant  to  Salem  for  the  purpose. 

Imagine  this  youth  of  twenty-two  defying  pub¬ 
lic  opinion,  when  opinion  dictated  life  and  death, 
differing  from  his  brothers  and  uncles  regardless 
of  the  cost.  Well,  too,  he  realized  the  danger  he 
was  in,  for  while  he  scorned  fear,  he  displayed 
that  better  part  of  valor,  lest  the  worst  come.  He 
kept  himself  and  family  armed,  and  it  is  said  one 
of  his  horses  stood  saddled  day  and  night  in  case 
apprehension  should  be  at  hand  and  flight  nec¬ 
essary. 

(He  was  never  arrestedy 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Whether  family  affection  protected  him,  or 
whether  the  prosecutors  were  really  afraid  to  ap¬ 
prehend  such  a  doughty  rebel,  one  is  not  sure. 

( Certainly  it  was  much  easier  to  bring  feeble  old 
women  to  court,  than  a  Joseph  Putnam,  for  there 
must  have  been  fire  in  his  eye  as  well  as  in  his 
spirit^ 

He  was  the  father  of  a  large  family  of  children 
who  honored  the  name  ;  one  of  the  youngest  was 
Israel,  afterwards  our  general  of  the  Revolution. 

(The  third  person  of  enlightened  mind  as  to 
the  delusion,  was  John  Procter^  His  strong  char¬ 
acteristic  is  found  in  men  at  different  periods, 
all  the  world  over.  He  is  the  man  who  speaks  his 
mind  to  the  disadvantage  of  self-interest,  and  al¬ 
ways  with  vehemence.  We  find  him  to-day  in  poli¬ 
tics,  on  school  boards,  in  the  church,  but  rarely  as¬ 
serting  himself  in  such  a  worthy  cause  as  did  John 
Procter.  (Such  a  man  as  this,  impulsive  and  fear¬ 
less,  is  generally  unpopular,  and  public  dislike  in 
this  case  became  an  executioner.  ^(Elizabeth 


/ 


1 


. 


r 


ft 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Procter,  his  wife,  was  first  accused,  for  the  Proc¬ 
ters  had  also  absented  themselves  from  meeting 
since  the  disturbances  began,  while  that  Mary 
Warren  one  of  the  accusing  girls  had  been  a  ser¬ 
vant  in  the  family,  must  be  mentioned  as  an  im¬ 
portant  link  in  the  chain  of  circumstances  which 
dragged  them  do\vru) 

Very  touching  is  the  scene  where  Elizabeth 
Procter  is  examined.  ( Her  husband,  bold  and 
manly,  stands  by  his  wife  at  this  trying  time,  and 
it  was  doubtless  his  indignant  and  earnest  pro¬ 
testations  in  her  behalf  that  turned  the  malice  of  3* 
the  accusers  upon  himself,  for  presently  they 
“cried  out”  upon  Goodman  Procter!) 

Her  character  and  bearing  may  be  clearly 
seen  from  one  sentence  directed  towards  her 
furious  tormenters. 

In  her  utter  amazement  at  the  accusations  and 
demeanor  of  the  young  girls,  there  is  to  her  but 
one  solution — they  are  crazed — and  her  tender 
womanly  heart  moved  with  pity  for  their  condi¬ 
tion  has  no  room  in  it  for  resentment ;  she  says 


/ 


. 

•  '  .  ' '  I  •  >  .  "j 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


* 


sweetly  to  Abigail  Williams — “Dear  child  it  is 
not  so.  There  is  another  judgement  dear  child.” 

She  might  as  well  have  addressed  the  wind 
with  gentle  words. 

John  Procter  made  an  effort  to  gain  justice  by 
an  appeal  to  Boston  in  the  following  letter — 


“Salem  Prison,  July  23,  1692. 
Mr.  Mather,  Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Moody,  Mr.  Willard  and 

Mr.  Bailey. 

Reverend  Gentlemen.  The  innocency  of  our  case, 
with  the  enmity  of  our  accusers  and  our  judges  and  jury, 
whom  nothing  but  our  innocent  blood  will  serve,  having 
condemned  us  already  before  our  trials,  being  so  much 
incensed  and  enraged  against  us  by  the  Devil,  make  us 
bold  to  beg  and  implore  your  favorable  assistance  of  this 
our  humble  petition  to  His  Excellency,  that  if  it  be  pos¬ 
sible,  our  innocent  blood  may  be  spared,  which  undoubt¬ 
edly  otherwise  will  be  shed,  if  the  Lord  doth  not  merci¬ 
fully  step  in;  the  magistrates,  ministers,  juries,  and  all 
the  people  in  general,  being  so  much  enraged  and  in¬ 
censed  against  us  by  the»delusion  of  the  Devil,  which  we 
can  term  no  other,  by  reason  we  know,  in  our  own  con¬ 
sciences  we  are  innocent  persons. 


h 


■ 


r 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Here  are  five  persons  who  have  lately  confessed  them¬ 
selves  to  be  witches,  and  do  accuse  some  of  us  of  being 
along  with  them  at  a  sacrament,  since  we  were  commit¬ 
ted  into  close  prison,  which  we  know  to  be  lies.  Two  of 
the  five  are  (Carrier’s  sons)  young  men,  who  would  not 
confess  anything  till  they  tied  them  neck  and  heels,  till 
the  blood  was  ready  to  come  out  of  their  noses;  and  it 
is  credibly  believed  and  reported  this  was  the  occasion  of 
making  them  confess  what  they  never  did,  by  reason  they 
said  one  had  been  a  witch  a  month,  and  another  five 
weeks,  and  that  their  mother  made  them  so,  who  has 
been  confined  here  this  nine  weeks.  My  son  William 
Procter,  when  he  was  examined,  because  he  would  not 
confess  that  he  was  guilty  when  he  was  innocent,  they 
tied  him  neck  and  heels  till  the  blood  gushed  out  at  his 
nose,  and  would  have  kept  him  so  twenty-four  hours,  if 
one,  more  merciful  than  the  rest,  had  not  taken  pity  on 
him,  and  caused  him  to  be  unbound.  These  actions  are 
very  like  the  Popish  cruelties.  They  have  already  undone 
us  in  our  estates,  and  that  will  not  serve  their  turns  with¬ 
out  our  innocent  blood.  If  it  cannot  be  granted  that  we 
can  have  our  trials  in  Boston,  we  humbly  beg  that  you 
would  endeavor  to  have  these  magistrates  changed,  and 
others  in  their  room ;  begging  also  and  beseeching  you, 
that  you  would  be  pleased  to  be  here,  if  not  all,  some  of 


I  1 


t  7 


1 

E?  %  ■ 

1  '•  \  ;  '  k  • 

r  .  ,  %v 

_M  ■ 

D 

>;■  •  >•  • 

fcv  ■« l  . , y  •/ 

r\.  <  1  TO  . 

.  .  ■■  ■> 

t  ' 

Is.  ; ;  f"  '  M  *».  j  •  ' 

l, ..  '  * 

Ift  r.'.W'  h3,J'' 

P 

f  .  ■  ’  /  <• 

r*  ,i  #  >  ,  .  ■ 

r  '  f» 

1 

T  ,  * 

\jtv  ‘  > . .  • 

m .  i  % :? 

Hi  ••  ‘  !  r  *,  \ 

if  •'  /  '  • 

k  ;  k  * 

r  V  -  ;•* 

I 

^  v  •  *  v-  •. 

,  :  '  ' 

fc*-  A  '<*  ■]  ‘.'i  - 

' {  • 

E,!<  ;t  /  •:  ;  • 

; 

r.vf  -  . 


86 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


you,  at  our  trials,  hoping  thereby  you  may  be  the  means 

✓  * 

of  saving  the  shedding  of  our  innocent  blood.  Desiring 
your  prayers  to  the  Lord,  in  our  behalf,  we  rest,  your 
poor  afflicted  servants, 

John  Procter  (and  others).” 

(  Even  after  a  three  months’  imprisonment,  John 
Procter’s  spirit  is  not  crushed,  though  there  is  a 
ring  of  imploring  despair  in  the  letter,  as  if  the  • 
writer  could  already  see  the  shadow  of  the  gal¬ 
lows^  (Thirteen  days  after  the  date  of  his  letter, 
his  trial  took  place  in  Salem,  followed  by  execu¬ 
tion  August  19^ 

He  was  a  native  of  Ipswich?  and  two  petitions 
from  friends  and  neighbors  of  the  family  were 
offered  to  the  Court,  signed  by  many  and  valued 
names,  testifying  to  the  worth  and  Christian  char¬ 
acters  of  “John  Procter  and  his  Wife,  now  in 
Trouble  and  under  Suspicion  of  Witchcraft .” 

In  addition  to  this  testimony  as  to  the  good 
repute  of  the  prisoners,  there  was  evidence 
against  the  witnesses  brought  to  light  at  the  trial. 
One  of  the  girls  took  back  previous  testimony, 


.  •  «•* 


'  % 


H 

■V  :  A'V'  'j  -  -*■  ••***• 

f-'-  "...  yo  ■  v  . 

t,  •  ;*  *  :  . 

f  • 

K 

1  •  ; 


\  * 


r.' 


'■  T 


.<  z'-y 


:(K 


N  '  <1 


1 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


saying  that  she  must  have  been  "out  of  her  head” 
at  the  time  she  gave  it ;  while  another  declared 
that  what  she  had  said  before  was  "for  sport.” 

But  nothing  could  stem  the  fury  of  the  current 
at  this  point. 

^Two  weeks  after  John  Procter  was  put  to 
death,  a  baby  was  born  to  Elizabeth  Procter  in 
prison,  adding  one  more  to  a  large  family  of 
fatherless  children.  But  it  was  this  youngest 
child  that  saved  the  mother’s  life.y 


HM 


>  -  .  h  ■  -  ,  ■  _ 

_  • 

*  r  1  ^ 

;•*  ■  .  •  * 

#  <1  #  V  * 

^  « 


'V  ■  - 

:•  ■  • 


gj:  ;r\  -CSji  • 

n^.  -y 


■  * 


r 

7  *  • 

L  i 

*  .  <»  ■nr,B 

^  ;.  ... 

aV'-V; 

■fvvv 

K  :.*Y  •  • 

M''  Y  «V 

Vi-'  V 

>:i  >;v  *  v 

&/  ■ 

(■u;  *•  .  •  1  1 

—T'  ‘  V  C  ' 

j;  * 

■  • 

k;S  -  • 


CHAPTER  XII 


BRIDGET  BISHOP. 


N  some  particulars,  Bridget  Bishop  is  one  of 
the  most  notable  characters  immortalized  by 
the  Salem  Witchcraft  Delusion.  Although  by 
no  means  the  first  to  be  accused,  she  was  the 
first  person  tried,  and  the  first  of  the  nineteen 
who  were__executed.  The  Court  met  The  first 
week  in  June,  and  June  10th  she  came  to  her 
death.  The  warrant  for  her  execution  for  witch¬ 
craft  is  the  only  document  of  its  kind  known  to 
be  in  existence. 

As  an  individual,  she  differed  greatly  from  the 
women  we  have  previously  studied.  While  they 
have  most  of  them  been  eminent  for  piety  and 
domestic  habits,  she  appears  to  have  been  a 
positive  and  original  character,  working  out  her 
(88) 


I  1 


til  'll  w  m  fwUiti  I>  »  1 1  riia 


' 


t 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


own  eccentricities  wliether  her  neighbors  were 
scandalized  or  not. 

In  the  first  place,  although  living  with  her  third 
husband,  she  had  but  one  child,  the  daughter  of 
her  second  husband,  Thomas  Oliver.  Life  was 
so  simple  then,  that  witWbut  one  child,  domestic 
matters  could  hardly  have  absorbed  the  entire 
attention  of  such  an  active  woman.  She  kept  a 
house  of  refreshment,  near  the  line  between 
Salem  and  Beverly,  and  not  only  refreshed  the 
bodies  of  her  guests,  but  provided  a  shovel-board 
for  their  entertainment.  Amusements  were  few 
among  these  austere  ancestors,  and  the  shovel- 
board  was  almost  the  only  game  countenanced 
at  all,  and  that  looked  upon  with  disfavor  by 
many. 

But  however  her  neighbors  looked  upon  it, 
Bridget  Bishop  did  not  regard  pleasure  and  sin 
as  synonymous  terms  any  more  than  does  the 
righteous  matron  of  to-day.  No  proof  of  any 
failing  in  morality  can  be  found  against  her,  but 
her  shovel  board,  hei  fondness-  for  dress,  her 
powerful  tongue  and  brisk  manner  of  defending 


, 


V  v  1 


r?  '■■• 


h\  '  i 

; ,  .  /•  ./  4 

i  '  *  ; ? 

1 

A 

V:"-'  1 
b  ...  ■ 


9° 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


herself  when  assailed, — all  made  her  the  subject 
of  much  comment  among  neighbors  whose  fail¬ 
ings  were  different. 

When  she  attired  her  person  in  “a  black  cap 
and  a  black  hat,  and  a  red  paragon  bodice,  bor¬ 
dered  and  looped  with  different  colors,”  she 
gave  great  offence  to  women  who  were  clad  in 
sober  hues  and  the  “ornament  of  a  meek  and 
quiet  spirit.”  They  felt  there  must  have  been 
something  wrong  about  a  woman  so  different 
from  those  about  her,  particularly  when  she  was 
also  of  such  a  belligerent  disposition.  Some  five 
years  before  the  delusion  began,  there  had  been 
an  accusation  made  against  her  as  to  her  being  a 
witch  ;  but  Mr.  Hale,  her  minister,  not  being 


•  J 


n 

\ 

i 

' 


%  \  'ii 

♦ r* 


.j'* 


T 


r 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  gr 

was  a  better  man  than  Edward  Bishop,  her  hus¬ 
band,  of  whom  we  hear  but  little.  She  did  not  ob¬ 
ject  to  gossip  about  her  manners  and  dress ;  she 
was  doubtless  of  stout  person  and  philosophic 
mind,  and  knew  that  if  scandal  was  not  busy 
with  her  affairs  it  would  be  with  the  peculiari¬ 
ties  of  some  other  woman  less  able  to  bear  it 
than  she  was  ;  perhaps  she  may  have  even  liked 
to  make  these  staid,  solemn  people  open  their  eyes 
and  exercise  their  tongues. 

When  it  came  to  asserting  she  was  a  witch, 
however,  that  was  a  very  different  thing  and  she 
resented  it  strongly  and  literally.  On  one  oc¬ 
casion  a  man  and  boy  presented  themselves  at 
her  door  to  accuse  her  of  bewitching  a  child. 
Discovering  their  errand,  the  supposed  witch  re¬ 
ceived  them  in  very  unwitchlike  fashion.  In¬ 
stead  of  brewing  anything  for  their  punishment 
in  a  kettle,  or  even  muttering  incantation  at 
them,  she  seized  a  spade  that  was  at  hand,  and 
chased  them  with  the  vigor  of  a  virago  from  the 
porch.  Neither  did  she  vainly  beat  the  air,  as 


•1 


* 


■ 


*V 


'  ' 


•  '  .  ■  ■  - 

■  v  •  ;  . 


kmmrn ******************** 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  93 

This  locality  of  the  dyer’s  seems  to  have  been  a 
central  point  of  attack  upon  Bridget  Bishop  and 
there  was  much  whispering  over  the  fence  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Next  to  Shattuck  on  the  edst, 
on  the  very  spot  which  the  kitchen  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  writer’s  house  now  occupies,  was  a  little  old 
house  where  lived  one  John  Cook.  Cook’s  son 
told  marvellous  tales  also  ;  he  saw  Goody  Bishop 
in  the  window  of  his  room  grinning  at  him,  and 
then  disappear  from  view  in  a  crevice.  Further¬ 
more,  apples  flew  unaccountably  from  his  hand. 

Adjoining  the  Cooks,  fronting  on  Summer 
street,  lived  the  Blys,  who  added  their  contribu¬ 
tion  to  the  malicious  testimony,  having  once  had 
a  difficulty  with  the  Bishops  about  the  payment 
of  a  hog.  Other  stories  quite  as  desperate  were 
offered  by  people  who  saw  and  knew  the  prisoner. 
Once  the  harness  of  a  man’s  horse  fell  to  pieces 
as  Bridget  Bishop  came  in  sight ;  and"  when  she 
was  driving  once  herself,  the  wheel  sunk  deep 
into  the  mud  ;  and  afterwards  when  they  looked 
for  the  hole,  it  could  not  be  found. 


L-  A 

a 

i 

jf **■ 

U 


I 

I 


94  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

John  and  William  Bly,  father  and  son,  who  had 
been  employed  to  remove  the  cellar  wall  of  the 
house  occupied  by  the  Bishops,  testified  that  they 
found  “puppets”  made  up  of  rags  and  hogs’  bris¬ 
tles  with  headless  pins  in  them  with  the  pins  out¬ 
ward. 

Of  such  strands  was  twisted  the  rope  that  hung 
Bridget  Bishop. 

She  seems  to  have  behaved  with  calmness  dur¬ 
ing  her  examination  and  trial,  volunteering  no 
disrespect  to  the  court,  nor  vituperation  at  the 
accusers.  But  it  seems  to  be  in  keeping  with 
her  character  that  when  asked  if  she  was  not 
troubled  to  see  the  afflicted  persons  tormented, 
she  replied  “No,”  indicating  further  that  she 
could  not  tell  what  to  think  of  them,  and  did  not 
concern  herself  about  them  at  all. 

This  vigorous,  practical  person,  indifferent  to 
public  opinion,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
planned  by  nature  for  a  martyr ;  but  circum¬ 
stances  made  her  so,  and  her  crown  may  be  just 


*-r***Limm 


r 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


MARY  EASTY  THE  SELF-FORGETFUL. 


/^)  SAINTLY  person  was  Mary  Easty,  sister 
I*"  of  Rebecca  Nurse.  She  was  twelve  years 
younger  than  the  latter,  and  up  to  the  time  of  her 
arrest,  with  a  family  of  seven  children,  was  nota¬ 
ble  for  her  qualities  as  wife  and  mother  ;  devoted 
in  her  faithfulness,  faithful  in  her  devotion. 

After  her  death  sentence,  she  is  distinguished 
for  an  unconsciousness  of  self  that  is  sublime. 
Although  she  was  called  to  die  by  neither  guilt, 
nor  disease,  bound  to  earth  by  many  of  the  ten- 
derest  bonds,  her  serenity  in  facing  the  inevitable, 
the  loftiness  of  her  spirit  above  personal  bitter¬ 
ness  is  more  divine  than  human. 

Her  case  differs  also  from  others  in  one  pitiful 
incident.  She  was  committed  to  prison  after 

(95) 


1 


g6  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


examination  in  April ;  by  some  means  she  was 
set  free  the  eighteenth  of  May,  and  allowed  to 
return  home  to  her  family.  Judging  the  family 
by  the  mother,  that  must  have  been  a  blissful 
reunion.  But  a  short  one.  Her  freedom  was  not 
due  to  the  afflicted  children  it  appears ;  for,  on 
the  loosing  of  Mary  Easty’s  chains,  such  distress¬ 
ing  fits  and  convulsions  came  upon  Mercy  Lewis, 
that  all  the  neighbors  came  to  gaze  upon  her 
in  dismay  and  horror.  Her  young  companions, 
called  upon  to  see  who  it  was  that  thus  tortured 
Mercy,  all  declared  that  it  was  Goodvvife  Easty, 
and  so  effective  was  Mercy’s  acting,  that  the  re¬ 
arrest  was  made  and  Mrs.  Easty  returned  to  pris¬ 
on,  where  she  remained  until  September  brought 
her  execution. 

On  her  way  to  the  Gallows,  she  met  her  family 
and  friends,  and  of  this  meeting  and  parting,  Ca- 
lef  says  that  her  words  of  farewell  were  said  to 
have  been  “as  serious,  religious,  distinct  and  af¬ 
fectionate  as  could  well  be  expressed,  drawing 
tears  from  the  eyes  of  almost  all  present.” 


s' 


T 


r 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  97 

She  made  one  effort  to  secure  justice,  sending 
to  the  court  one  of  the  most  noble  and  affecting 
letters  ever  written. 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Mary  Easty  unto  his  Excel¬ 
lency  Sir  William  Phifs,  and  to  the  Honored  Judge  and 
Bench  ncrw  sitting  in  Judicature  in  Salem,  and  the  Rev¬ 
erend  Ministers,  humbly  sheweth,  that,  whereas  your  poor 
and  humble  petitioner,  being  condemned  to  die,  do 
humbly  beg  of  you  to  take  it  in  your  judicious  and  pious 
consideration,  that  your  poor  and  humble  petitioner,  know¬ 
ing  my  own  innocency,  blessed  be  the  Lord  for  it !  and 
seeing  plainly  the  wiles  and  subtilty  of  my  accusers  by 
myself,  cannot  but  judge  charitably  of  others  that  are  go¬ 
ing  the  same  way  of  myself  if  the  Lord  steps  not  might¬ 
ily  in.  I  was  confined  a  whole  month  upon  the  same 
account,  that  I  am  condemned  now  for,  and  then  cleared 
by  the  afflicted  persons,  as  some  of  Your  Honors  know. 

And  in  two  day’s  time  I  was  cried  out  upon  them,  and- 
have  been  confined,  and  now  am  condemned  to  die.  The 
Lord  above  knows  my  innocency  then,  and  likewise  does 
now,  as  at  the  great  day  will  be  known  to  men  and  angels. 
I  petition  to  Your  Honors  not  for  my  own  life,  for  I  know 
I  must  die,  and  my  appointed  time  is  set;  but  the  Lord 
he  knows  it  is  that,  if  it  be  possible,  no  more  innocent 

5 


: 


jn  ’ 

jr-  <  ,t,' 

fit  ;.*• 

Wit{/ 

. 

'  '  V.  ■ ' J 

f"  6 

nl  i 

\  * 

'■  ,  ■  1 

/  '  1 

r 

K"  ( 

♦  ■•:>■■■ * j 

a 

rl/  • « 

■  ■  ’  i 

l 

■  ■  _  i  •; 

i  a 

p 

,V. ,  '  - 

w* 

'■< 1  <  “•  • 

Cv. 

■  f  •  ; 

frr 

.  .  ^  Afi 

JVf> 

■  V  -;  4 

Rw 

R  r. 

B’-  x 

v 

1  , 

SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


blood  may  be  shed,  which  undoubtedly  cannot  be  avoided 
in  the  way  and  course  you  go  in.  I  question  not  but  Your 
Honors  do  to  the  utmost  of  your  powers  in  the  discovery 
and  detecting  of  witchcraft  and  witches,  and  would  not 
be  guilty  of  innocent  blood  for  the  world. 

But,  by  my  own  innocency,  I  know  you  are  in  the 
wrong  way.  The  Lord  in  his  infinite  mercy  direct  you  in 
this  great  work,  if  it  be  his  blessed  will  that  no  more  in¬ 
nocent  blood  be  shed  !  I  would  humbly  beg  of  you  that 
Your  Honors  would  be  pleased  to  examine  these  afflicted 
persons  strictly,  and  keep  them  apart  some  time,  and 
likewise  to  try  some  of  these  confessing  witches;  I  being 
confident  there  is  several  of  them  that  has  belied  them¬ 
selves  and  others,  as  will  appear,  if  not  in  this  world,  I 
am  sure  in  the  world  to  come,  whither  I  am  now  agoing. 
I  question  not  but  you  will  see  an  alteration  of  these 
things.  They  say  myself  and  others  having  made  a  league 
with  the  Devil,  we  cannot  confess.  I  know,  and  the  Lord 
knows,  as  will  appear,  they  belie  me,  and  so  I  question 
not  but  they  do  others.  The  Lord  above,  who  is  the 
searcher  of  all  hearts,  knows,  as  I  shall  answer  it  at  the 
tribunal  seat,  that  I  know  not  the  least  thing  of  witchcraft; 
therefore  I  cannot,  I  dare  not,  belie  my  own  soul.  I  beg 
Your  Honors  not  to  deny  this  my  humble  petition  frpm  a 
poor,  dying,  innocent  person.  And  I  question  not  but  the 
Lord  will  give  a  blessing  to  your  endeavors.” 


1 


r 


rmm^' 


E:  kv  '.■  >  1 

P  \  •  >  r\  »V  -- 

r.  1  •"a,.  jS  >•  >.'■ 

I  "  ;■  .  ;  > 

l\:.  u  , 

•  '  ** 

> V >JJ *1  *  •  :  ;  X';.  V  ! 

-v’./;  ■  ■  •' 

■  ’  -  >'•  y*  •  ■■  >> 

> 

e.'v  - 

•v 

K  .  •  ;/  '  *  *1  V; 

V,'  '  • 

i 

- ,  1 .  • 

fc  f  V;  ;  y 

a>  ■■  v,  ■ 

mm "/: 

■  *  'A 

f  ■  ♦  v,fV'  * 

** 

■  *■  y,  ;  *■ 

I ; 

a,-'  -m:1:  : 

i 

t  :  t  ' 

I 

| 

|  •  S 

I  k 

[  •? 

v 

V  '*  «' 

<1 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


99 


That  a  condemned  person  should  in  such  per¬ 
ilous  condition  offer  no  plea  for  self,  but  for  oth¬ 
ers  lest  they  suffer,  fills  one  with  awed  amaze¬ 
ment. 

Her  suggestion  to  the  Court  that  the  accusers 
be  “kept  apart”  for  a  time,  displays  more  sagac¬ 
ity  than  we  see  in  the  judges  and  jury  combined. 
And  yet,  though  by  her  clearer  understanding  she 
sees  plainly  these  men  are  in  the  wrong,  and  that 
by  their  blundering  she  is  to  lose  her  life,  she 
shows  not  the  slightest  resentment  towards  any¬ 
one  ;  the  only  distress  is  for  others,  and  her  cry  for 
mercy  is  for  those  who  direct  her  execution. 

The  lofty  tone  of  this  message  to  the  Court  re¬ 
calls  the  perfect  spirit  of  the  Prisoner  at  Calvary, 
who  entreats  “Father,  forgive  them,  they  know 
not  what  they  do.” 


•  -'..vv  V\V  V 

'*■  t.' 

**'•  •  •  **4..’  ' 

• 

•  N*,r  , 
y 

\  f  > 

. 

•  ~  .v 

t  .v.  , 

r  *  *  '  •  .* 

pc*:.,*  *  *  >  « 

K*  ■  1  '■  '  *  *  •  *  !'~  •=  ■  v!- 

U-.  •  .-'i .  «;  ’>*  •  '  -  •  •  * 

ris  '■  .  •  •’  :  *• 


r  / 


T 


I, mmi  -mi,  i.  i,  u^p 


r 


111  . . 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  JACOBS  FAMILY. 

fg])  ETVVEEN  Salem  and  Danversport,  there 
****  stands  back  from  the  road  on  a  rising  in  the 
field,  an  old  gray  house  still  known  as  the  “Ja¬ 
cobs’  house,  where  two  hundred  years  ago,  as 
cruel  a  rending  of  heart  and  family  took  place 
as  any  hearth-stone  in  Salem  Village  knew. 

There  lived  George  Jacobs,  his  only  son 
George,  jr.,  with  his  wife,  their  daughter  Marga¬ 
ret,  aged  fifteen,  and  several  younger  children. 
The  old  man  was  of  striking  figure,  unusually  tall, 
and  walking  with  two  canes ;  his  hair  was  white 
and  worn  in  flowing  locks. 

Much  depends  on  the  mother  of  the  house, 
particularly  where  the  home  is  isolated,  as  was 
this.  Rebecca  Jacobs  must  have  been  an  object 

(ioo) 


1 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


IOI 


of  tender  solicitude  in  her  household,  for  she  had 
been  for  years  partially  deranged,  and  therefore 
the  young  shoulders  of  Margaret  must  have  early 
received  burdens  too  heavy  for  her  years  and 
frame. 

May  10th,  George  Jacobs  and  Margaret  were 
arrested,  and  four  days  later  warrants  were  is¬ 
sued  against  George  Jacobs,  jr.,  and  his  half  de¬ 
mented  wife. 

He  made  his  escape  from  the  country  while  she, 
though  not  brought  to  trial  until  January,  1693, 
was  kept  chained  in  prison  ;  quite  enough  to  have 
made  a  maniac  of  this  broken-minded  woman. 
Her  mother,  a  Rebecca  Fox  of  Cambridge,  wrote 
a  most  touching  petition  in  her  behalf  to  the  Gov¬ 
ernor,  but  it  was  in  vain. 

The  little  gray  house  is  left  stripped  and  deso¬ 
late  ;  the  grandfather  and  granddaughter  taken, 
the  father  having  to  seek  refuge  like  a  hunted 
criminal  in  a  foreign  land,  while  the  mother,  who 
had  probably  instinct  enough  left  in  her  troubled 
brain  to  care  for  her  children,  was  torn  from  her 
little  pnes  and  one  of  them  an  infant. 


102  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

But  the  sheriff  has  naught  to  do  with  helpless 
childhood ;  he  takes  his  forlorn  prisoner  into  the 
spring  air  off  across  the  fields,  leaving  in  the  open 
door  the  crying  children  whose  frightened  voices 
waken  the  unweaned  baby  in  its  cradle  within. 

Though  aged,  George  Jacobs  was  vigorous  in 
mind,  and  courageously  met  the  accusations  and 
the  accusers  with — “Well,  let  us  hear  who  are 
they  and  what  are  they.” 

He  laughed  at  Abigail  Williams’  performances, 
and  said — “Because  I  am  falsely  accused,  your 
worships  all  of  you,  do  you  think  this  is  true?” 

Later  in  the  examination,  he  exclaimed  “You 
tax  me  for  a  wizard ;  you  may  as  well  tax  me  for 
a  buzzard.  I  have  done  no  harm.” 

Sarah  Churchill  who  had  been  a  servant  in  the 
family  testified  “Last  night  I  was  afflicted  at  Dea- 
.  con  Ingersoll’s,  and  Mary  Walcot  said  it  was  a 
man  with  two  staves ;  it  was  my  master.”  He 
was  challenged  to  say  the  Lord’s  Prayer  and,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Mr.  Parris,  “He  missed  in  several  parts 
of  it,  and  could  not  repeat  it  right  after  many 
trials.”  The  magistrates  then  suggestively  asked 


i 

I 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


“Were  you  not  frighted  Sarah  Churchill,  when  the 
representation  of  your  master  came  to  you?” 


Jacobs  exclaimed,  “Well,  burn  me  or  hang  me, 
I  will  stand  in  the  truth  of  Christ,  I  know  noth¬ 
ing  of  it.” 

A  disturbed  conscience  was  such  an  almost 
unprecedented  thing  among  the  afflicted  girls, 
that  the  following,  found  among  the  loose  papers 
on  file  in  the  clerk’s  office,  should  be  inserted. 

The  Deposition  of  Sarah  Ingersoll,  aged  about 
thirty  years. — Saith,  that,  seeing  Sarah  Churchill, 
after  her  examination,  she  came  to  me  crying 
and  wringing  her  hands,  seemingly  to  be  much 
troubled  in  spirit.  I  asked  her  what  she  ailed. 
She  answered,  she  had  undone  herself  and  others 
in  saying  she  had  set  her  hand  to  the  Devil’s 
book,  whereas,  she  said,  she  never  did.  I  told 
her  I  believed  she  had  set  her  hand  to  the  book. 
She  answered,  crying,  and  said,  “No,  no,  no ;  I 
never,  I  never  did  I  I  asked  her  then  what  made  her 


1 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


say  she  did.  She  answered  because  they  threatened 
her,  and  told  her  they  would  put  her  into  the 
dungeon,  and  put  her  along  with  Mr.  Burroughs  ; 
and  thus  several  times  she  followed  me  up  and 
down,  telling  me  that  she  had  undone  herself,  in 
belying  herself  and  others.  I  asked  her  why  she 
did  not  deny  she  wrote  it.  She  told  me,  because 
she  had  stood  out  so  long  in  it,  that  now,  she 
durst  not.  She  said  also,  that,  if  she  told  Mr. 
Noyes  but  once  she  had  set  her  hand  to  the  book, 
he  would  believe  her ;  but  if  she  told  the  truth, 
and  said  she  had  not  set  her  hand  to  the  book  a 
hundred  times,  he  would  not  believe  her. 

“Sarah  Ingersoll.” 

George  Jacobs  was  committed  to  prison  ;  his 
trial,  such  as  it  was,  took  place  early  in  August, 
and  his  execution  August  19. 

“  George  Jacobs,  sr.,  is  the  only  one,  among 
the  victims  of  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  the 
precise  spot  of  whose  burial  is  absolutely  ascer¬ 
tained. 


"*.■  —  • 


■  r 


y-  -v  ,  >  . 

'it  Vi- 
;•**  *>?•' 

\  ,  0>.  \ 

6. K-.V 

t.-  ’a  ..o  •  -  >  • 

l  r.t  <  •  i.  5 


Wu 


E,'  ■! 

'•  ■*> 


B  1  1  * 

wpt 

E  " ;  ■  s  • 

|s  ,  1  . 

j  {(  '  ../■/'  '  ■  ' 

li'.v  '  •  I  ,-V  » 

■  ■  v 

N'\kv-V  ;• 

t  i 

/'  ■  SSi  ?,v„  ■ 

:•  >•  ^ l  •>* 

:  .•  ' 

pgy 

I • 

> 

»•  M, 

i>'.  ■. 

viV . 

r/,v*  « 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


io5 


Tlie  tradition  has  descended  through  the  fam¬ 
ily,  that  the  body,  after  having  been  obtained  at 
the  place  of  execution,  was  strapped  by  a  young 
grandson  on  the  back  of  a  horse,  brought  home 
to  the  farm,  and  buried  beneath  the  shade  of  his 
own  trees.  Two  sunken  and  weather-worn  stones 
marked  the  spot.  There  the  remains  rested  un¬ 
til  1 864,  when  they  were  exhumed.  They  were 
enclosed-again  and  reverently  re-deposited  in  the 
same  place. 

The  skull  was  in  a  state  of  considerable  pres¬ 
ervation.  An  examination  of  the  jawbones 
showed  that  he  was  a  very  old  man  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  and  had  previously  lost  all  his  teeth. 
The  length  of  some  parts  of  the  skeleton  showed 
that  he  was  a  very  tall  man.  These  circumstances 
corresponded  with  the  evidence,  which  was  that 
he  was  tall  of  stature ;  so  infirm  as  to  walk  with 
two  staffs.  It  is  an  observable  fact,  that  he  rests 
in  his  own  ground,  still.  He  had  lived  for  a  great 
length  of  time  on  that  spot,  arid  it  remains  in 


£  -  « 

V  ■-  -.  .  •  •  ■  ■  '  V  >  '  '  ;  .  .  . 

&.  V  .  -  • 

*  * 

*  *  •• 

- 

•  V'7.  .,\-v  '  • 


' 


m 

hmm 


W  .  ■■  ■ 

'  .  A  1  .  * 

....  -  It  .*•  A  V-- 

•  > 


\  1 


iV 


V 


T  ••  1 


•m 


Ar 


•  < 


!U 


i 

r 


'.  * 

y 

* 

'  A;  a: 


n 


•  3(  *  ’  * 

* 

'i1'  '  1 


J  I. 

■* 


N  i. 


■'  t. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


his  family  and  in  his  name  to  this  day,  having 
come  down  by  direct  descent.” 

Margaret  Jacobs,  while  her  grandfather  was 
under  trial  and  condemnation,  had  gone  through 
a  terrible  experience. 

Worked  upon  by  influences  without  and  by 
weariness  and  weakness  within,  in  some  distressed 
state  of  mind  she  was  brought  to  make  confes¬ 
sion  of  witchcraft  and  in  so  doing  implicated  her 
grandfather.  Before  turning  from  Margaret  in 
horror,  let  us  remember  her  youth  and  the  trials 
she  had  been  through.  For  years  she  had  had 
her  mother’s  sad  condition  before  her  eyes,  while 
the  sudden  blasting  of  their  home  and  scatter¬ 
ing  of  the  family,  to  say  nothing  of  the  public 
uproar,  and  her  individual  imprisonment  and 
chains,  would  have  disturbed  a  woman’s  faith  and 
courage  ;  hers  faltered  for  a  time  but  as  will  be 
seen,  was  strengthened  again,  and  would  have 
remained  strong  even  unto  death. 

Neither  does  it  seem  fair  to  state  that  it  was 


' 


I 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


because  of  Margaret’s  testimony  that  her  grand¬ 
father  lost  his  life ;  for  if  it  had  not  been  her  tes¬ 
timony,  anything  else  would  have  answered  for 
a  pretext  of  guilt,  for  we  have  seen  that  prejudice, 
nrtt  justice,  ruled  the  Court ;  that  malice,  and  not 
law,  summed  up  the  evidence. 

The  reaction  from  Margaret’s  moment  of  weak¬ 
ness,  produced  the  most  sorrowful  repentance 
under  which  she  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Court  tak¬ 
ing  back  her  confession.  This  she  read  aloud 
before  the  assembled  people. 


The  Humble  Declaration  of  Margaret  Jacobs  unto  the 
Honored  Court  now  sitting  at  Salem  skewetk,  that  where¬ 
as  your  poor  and  humble  declarant,  being  closely  confined 
here  in  Salem  jail  for  the  crime  of  witchcraft,  —  which 
crime,  thanks  be  to  the  Lord!  I  am  altogether  ignorant 
of,  as  will  appear  at  the  great  day  of  judgement, — may  it 
please  the  honored  Court,  I  was  cried  out  upon  by  some 
of  the  possessed  persons  as  afflicting  them :  whereupon 
I  was  brought  to  my  examination;  which  persons  at  the 
sight  of  me  fell  down,  which  did  very  much  startle  and 
affright  me.  The  Lord  above  knows  I  knew  nothing  in 
the  least  measure  how  or  who  afflicted  them. 


/  1 


I08  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

They  told  me,  without  doubt  I  did,  or  else  they  would 
not  fall  down  at  me;  they  told  me,  if  I  would  not,  con¬ 
fess,  I  should  be  put  down  into  the  dungeon,  and  would 
be  hanged,  but  if  I  would  confess,  I  should  have  my  life; 
the  which  did  so  affright  me,  with  my  own  vile,  wicked 
heart,  to  save  my  life,  made  me  make  the  like  confession 
I  did,  which  confession,  may  it  please  the  honored  Court, 
is  altogether  false  and  untrue.  The  very  first  night  after 
I  had  made  confession,  I  was  in  such  horror  of  conscience 
that  I  could  not  sleep,  for  fear  the  Devil  should  carry  me 
away  for  telling  such  horrid  lies.  I  was,  may  it  please 
the  honored  Court,  sworn  to  my  confession,  as  I  under¬ 
stand  since,  but  then,  at  that  time  was  ignorant  of  it,  not 
knowing  what  an  oath  did  mean. 

The  Lord,  I  hope,  in  whom  I  trust,  out  of  the  abun¬ 
dance  of  his  mercy  will  forgive  me  my  false  forswearing 
myself.  What  I  said  was  altogether  false  against  my 
grandfather  and  Mr.  Burroughs,  which  I  did  to  save  my 
life,  and  to  have  my  liberty;  but  the  Lord,  charging  it  to 
my  conscience,  made  me  in  so  much  horror,  that  I  could 
not  contain  myself  before  I  had  denied  my  confession, 
which  I  did,  though  I  saw  nothing  but  death  before  me ; 
choosing  rather  death  with  a  quiet  conscience,  than  to 
live  in  such  horror,  which  I  could  not  suffer.  Where¬ 
upon  my  denying  my  confession,  1  was  committed  to  close 


w 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 09 

prison,  where  I  have  enjoyed  more  felicity  in  spirit,  a 
thousand  times,  than  I  did  before  in  my  enlargement. 

And  now,  may  it  please  Your  Honors,  your  declarant 
having  in  part  given  Your  Honors  a  description  of  my 
condition,  do  leave  it  to  Your  Honor’s  pious  and  judicious 
discretions  to  take  pity  and  compassion  on  my  young  and 
tender  years,  to  act  and  to  do  with  me  as  the  Lord  above 
and  Your  Honors  shall  see  good,  having  no  friend  but 
the  Lord  to  plead  my  cause  for  me;  not  being  guilty,  in 
the  least  measure,  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft,  nor  any 
other  sin  that  deserves  death  from  man. 

And  your  poor  and  humble  declarant  shall  for  ever 
pray,  as  she  is  bound  in  duty,  for  Your  Honor’s  happi¬ 
ness  in  this  life  and  eternal  felicity  in  the  world  to  come. 

So  prays  Your  Honor’s  declarant, 
Margaret  Jacobs.” 

How  many  girls  of  the  same  age  in  1892,  in 
spite  of  the  progress  in  so  many  directions,  would 
be  capable  of  the  spiritual  grace  and  moral 
courage  as  shown  by  Margaret  Jacobs  in  this 
paper? 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  she  did  not  die  at 
that  time,  being  prevented  by  a  temporary  illness 


Mr 


IRMRUWil  I  Mil  R  IIITtl 


I  HMJP  »i— "ii>i 


r- 


p* 

['/.  ...  :< .  **/  . 

.•  <*  5 


y’-  y ,  -v 
t-  *1  ••  ■ .  , 

,  ,  f*  '  /  r)‘  *  ^  ^ 

,  '  r 

,  /•  ••' 

»  ,  '  I*  '  '** 

■:.fv  :  i  + 


r  ■  ‘  N 

$«/*>*.,  "''I 

•  .  • 

■  4 

■  1.  -V 


<  [  i;v  , 


1 

•'  •  » 

.;■  ** 

» 

f  r  1  •'•  i 


i— «4  r>i— 


from  appearing  at  the  time  appointed  for  her 
trial,  and  when  the  Court  met  next,  the  power 
Of  the  delusion  was  over  and  her  life  spared  for 
futtire  usefulness. 

In  1699  she  married  John  Foster.  It  is  a 
positive  delight  to  leave  one  of  our  principal 
characters  at  the  altar,  rather  than  upon  the 
scaffold. 


•  j 


l  \ 


wTm " 


-  *V  . 


'/.aft*  r 


MHMMMMl 


WMMMM 


1 »  ■  ■■  nr, 


-  '  y  7 

r.  w  :  .< 

■ 

I?  -y>1?  • 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  TROUBLE  IN  ANDOVER — PHILIP  AND  MARY 
ENGLISH - MARTHA  CARRIER. 

/jYjYANY  of  the  persons  executed  were  resi- 
J  ^  A  dents  of  Andover  it  may  be  noted.  How 
the  trouble  came  to  break  forth  so  far  from  its 
starting  point  is  as  easy  of  explanation  as  the 
carrying  of  contagious  disease. 

“The  wife  of  an  honest  and  worthy  man  in  An¬ 
dover  was  sick  of  a  fever.  After  all  the  usual  means 
had  failed  to  check  the  symptoms  of  her  disease, 
the  idea  became  prevalent  that  she  was  suffering 
under  an  “evil  hand.”  The  husband,  pursuant 
of  the  advice  of  friends,  posted  down  to  Salem 
Vilhge  to  ascertain  from  the  afflicted  girls  who 
was  bewitching  his  wife.  Two  of  them  returned 
to  Andover. 

0”) 


“  0- 

I:.'  "  ■  ■ 

1.  •  ■  .  .  '  T  , 


■  .  -• 
iv>  ■  • 

* 


\ 


'  '4 


• 


M) 


mm 


mmum+ibm 


V 

: 


Vif. 


I 


y  :.v,V-  ’»  -'’  Vv.  •  .  *  •  ,.• .  *4 

*-■•  • 


;ZGi* 


112  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

Never  did  a  place  receive  such  fatal  visitors.' 
I  lie  Grecian  horse  did  not  bring  greater  con¬ 
sternation  to  ancient  Ilium.  Immediately  after 
their  arrival,  they  succeeded  in  getting  more  than 
fifty  of  the  inhabitants  into  prison,  several  of 
whom  were  hanged. 

A  perfect  panic  swept  like  a  hurricane  over 
the  place.  The  idea  seized  all  minds,  as  Hutch¬ 
inson  expresses  it,  that  the  only  “way  to  prevent 
accusation,  was  to  become  an  accuser.” — “The 
number  of  the  afflicted  increased  every  day  and 
the  number  of  accused  in  proportion.” 

In  this  state  of  things,  such  a  great  accession 
being  made  to  the  ranks  of  the  confessing 
witches,  the  power  of  the  delusion  became  irre¬ 
sistibly  strengthened. 

Mr.  Dudley  Bradstreet,  the  magistrate  of  the 
place,  after  having  committed  about  forty  per¬ 
sons  to  jail,  concluded  he  had  done  enough  and 
declined  to  arrest  any  more.  The  consequence 
was,  he  and  his  wife  were  cried  out  upon  and 
they  had  to  fly  for  their  lives. 


— M 


S' 


-  n  vr*iin  VihftlMf 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Persons  of  great  wealth  and  prominence  were 
now  assailed  in  Salem,  notably  Philip  and  Mrs. 
English,  who  owned  houses,  lands,  a  wharf  and 
many  sailing  vessels  ;  probably  no  family  in  this 
whole  region  lived  so  luxuriously,  and  this  fact 
was  doubtless  what  made  them  worthy  of  attack. 

A  warrant  was  first  issued  against  Mary  Eng¬ 
lish,  the  wife.  “Mrs.  English  was  a  lady  of  emi¬ 
nent  character  and  culture.  Traditions  to  this 
effect  have  come  down  with  singular  uniformity 

through  all  the  old  families  of  the  place.  She 
* 

was  the  only  child  of  Richard  Hollingsworth,  and 
inherited  his  large  property.  The  Rev.  William 
Bentley,  D.D.,  in  his  “Description  of  Salem,” 
and  whose  daily  life  made  him  conversant  with 
all  that  relates  to  the  locality  of  Mrs.  English’s 
residence,  says  that  the  officer  came  to  appre¬ 
hend  her  in  the  evening,  after  she  had  retired  to 
rest.  He  was  admitted  by  the  servants,  and  read 
his  warrant  in  her  bed  chamber.  Guards  were 
placed  around  the  house. 

To  be  accused  by  the  afflicted  children  was 


^,M  11,1  .■*!■"  1  •  -~ 


wwm 


. 


r 


I 


r 


Salem  witchcraft  in  outline. 


The  case  of  Martha  Carrier  was  a  pitiful  one, 
four  of  her  children  being  taken  with  her  into 
confinement,  and  their  young  minds  terrified  into 
a  confession  against  her,  and  it  was  ostensibly  on 
the  words  of  her  own  flesh  and  blood  that  she 
was  found  guilty. 

“It  was  asked  Sarah  Carrier  by  the  magistrates, 
“How  long  hast  thou  been  a  witch? — Ever  since 
I  was  six  years  old. 

“How  old  are  you  now? — Near  eight  years 
old  ;  brother  Richard  says  I  shall  be  eight  years 
old  in  November  next. 

“Who  made  you  a  witch  ? — My  mother ;  she 
made  me  set  my  hand  to  a  book 

“How  did  you  set  your  hand  to  it  ? —  I  touched 
it  with  my  fingers,  and  the  book  was  red ;  the 
paper  of  it  was  white. 

“She  said  she  had  never  seen  the  black  man ; 
the  place  where  she  did  it  was  in  Andrew  Foster’s 
pasture,  and  Elizabeth  Johnson,  jr.,  was  therq. 
Being  a^ked  who  was  there  besides,  she  answered, 
her  Aunt  Toothaker  and  her  cousin.  Being 


't 


1 1 6 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  O' TUNE. 


asked  when  it  was,  she  said,  when  she  was  bap¬ 
tized. 

“What  did  they  promise  to  give  you  ? — A  black 
dog. 

“Did  the  dog  ever  come  to  you? — No. 

“But  you  said  you  saw  a  cat  once ;  what  did 
that  say  to  you  ? — It  said  it  would  tear  me  in 
pieces,  if  I  would  not  set  my  hand  to  the  book. 

“She  said  her  mother  baptized  her,  and  the 
Devil,  or  black  man,  was  not  there,  as  she  saw ;  • 
and  her  mother  said,  when  she  baptized  her, 
Thou  art  mine  for  ever  and  ever,  amen  ! 

“How  did  you  afflict  folks? — I  pinched  them. 

“And  she  said  she  had  no  puppets,  but  she 
went  to  them  that  she  afflicted.  Being  asked 
whether  she  went  in  her  body  or  her  spirit,  she 
said  in  her  spirit.  She  said  her  mother  carried 
her  thither  to  afflict. 

“How  did  your  mother  carry  you  when  she 
was  in  prison  ? — She  came  like  a  black  cat. 

“How  did  you  know  it  was  your  mother? — 
The  cat  told  me  so,  that  she  was  my  mother. 


'/■ v 


*  r. 


vV 


"V 


mmm 


juA 


mmm 


t' 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  117 

She  said  she  afflicted  Phelps’s  child  last  Saturday, 
and  Elizabeth  Johnson  joined  with  her  to  do  it. 
She  had  a  wooden  spear  about  as  long  as  her 
finger  of  Elizabeth  Johnson ;  and  she  had  it  of 
the  Devil.  She  would  not  own  that  she  had  ever 
been  at  the  witch  meeting  at  the  village.  This 
is  the  substance.  “Simon  Willard.” 

^  In  alluding  to  her  trial,  Cotton  Mather  thus 
forcibly  expresses  his  mind  : 

“This  rampant  hag  ( Martha  Carrier)  was  the 
person  of  whom  the  confessions  of  the  witches, 
and  of  her  own  children  among  the  rest,  agreed 
that  the  Devil  had  promised  her  that  she  should 
be  Queen  of  Hell."  J 

The  explanation^ of  Cotton  Mather’s  strong 
language  will  be  found  in  the  examination  of  this 
most  unhappy  woman,  where,  driven  to  despera¬ 
tion  by  the  use  made  of  her  children,  she  not 
only  indignantly  repelled  the  accusations,  but 
boldly  denounced  the  magistrates. 

She  was  asked,  “  What  black  man  is  that? — I 
know  none.” 


r 


1 18 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

(The  accusers  declared  the  black  man  was 
present,  and  that  they  could  see  him  ;  so  again 
she  was  asked)  “What  black  man  did  you  see? 
— I  saw  no  black  man  but  your  own  presence.” 

(The  girls  kept  falling  down  whenever  she 
looked  at  them.) 

“Can  you  look  upon  these  and  not  knock  them 
down?— -They  will  dissemble  if  I  look  upon 
them.” 

“You  see,  you  look  upon  them,  and  they  fall 
down.  —  It  is  false  ;  the  Devil  is  a  liar.  I  looked 
upon  none  since  I  came  into  the  room  but  you.” 

Susanna  Sheldon  in  a  trance  cries  out  “I  won¬ 
der  what  you  murder  thirteen  persons  for.”  At 
this  outrageous  statement,  injured  innocence  can 
bear  no  more,  and  in  the  majesty  of  righteous 
wrath  she  flings  this  at  the  magistrates — “It  is  a 

shameful  thing  that  you  should  mind  these  folks 
% 

that  are  out  of  their  wits  j”  and,  turning  to  the 
accusers — “You  lie  ;  I  am  wronged.” 

Confusion  fell  upon  the  multitude,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  record  of  the  scene  closes 
with  these  words : 


rn\mmnm,mrn 


■ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFr  IN  OUTLINE.  119 

“The  tortures  of  the  afflicted  were  so  great, 
that  there  was  no  enduring  of  it,  so  that  she  was 
ordered  away,  and  to  be  bound  hand  and  foot 
with  all  expedition  ;  the  afflicted,  in  the  mean 
time  almost  killed,  to  the  great  trouble  of  all 
spectators,  magistrates,  and  others.” 

“Note. — As  soon  as  she  was  well  bound,  they  all  had 
strange  and  sudden  ease.  Mary  Walcott  told  the  magis¬ 
trate  that  this  woman  told  her  she  had  been  a  witch  this 
forty  years.” 

There  is  nothing  to  lighten  the  gloom  of  this 
dark  scene.  A  woman  can  bear,  as  the  world 
knows,  persecution  for  her  faith,  and  bear  it  with 
heroic  patience,  but  Martha  Carrier’s  fate  was 
torture  in  addition  to  the  finest  instincts  of  her 
sex.  To  be  wrongfully  accused,  she  might  have 
borne  with  calm  scorn,  or  quiet  fortitude  ;  but  to 
take  her  little  ones  and  sharpen  them  into  instru¬ 
ments  for  her  destruction,  was  an  outrage  no 
mother  could  bear.  The  love  implanted  by  God 
for  her  offspring  is  changed  into  furious  resent¬ 
ment  at  her  wrongs,  and  surely  that  God  saw  and 
blamed  her  not. 


a 


. .  ii— 


120  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

To  smooth  her  passage  towards  the  other  world 
there  was  no  raining  of  childish  kisses  on  her 
face,  no  loving  little  arms  about  her  in  clinging 
embrace,  for  the  cruelty  of  blind  men  had  de¬ 
vised  that  those  little  arms  should  tighten  the 
rope  about  their  mother’s  neck. 


. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


and  there  was  little  or  nothing  done  for  their 
amusement  by  their  elders,  whom  stern  realities 
.  occupied  effectually. 

Elizabeth  How  of  Topsfield,  among  other 
sweet  qualities,  had  a  gift  for  endearing  herself 
to  children  in  a  degree  quite  remarkable  for  the 
times.  So  great  was  her  faculty  for  entertaining 
her  small  friends,  that  a  troop  of  children  would 
be  always  about  her.  Monstrous  as  it  would 
seem,  this  lovely  trait  of  her  character  was  used 
as  a  proof  of  her  guilt,  when  later  it  suited  some 
family  grudge  'in  the  neighborhood  that  she 
should  be  apprehended  for  witchcraft. 

What  would  add  to  her  womanly  attraction 
to-day,  the  power  of  drawing  little  ones  to  her, 
was  construed,  from  its  being  so  uncommon,  to 
be  a  power  through  evil. 

Elizabeth  How  is  one  of  whom  there  is  abun¬ 
dant  proof  as  to  her  piety  and  excellence  ;  friends 
and  neighbors  drew  up  depositions  as  to  her 
character,  and  one  who  had  known  her  for 
twenty-four  years  testifies  that  she  had  “found  her 


;  1  * 


# 


r 


p  - 

t  .V 


i  *  *■  r 


■ill'll  .WIBPH.H  II 


*'amm 


1 


rv’.l;  r  ■  ' M  MW  IIU.I1U  11^  J  ,  .  iWL'rynjuwwwiiiHi^u 


. 


. 


I 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 23 

a  neighborly  woman,  conscientious  in  her  deal¬ 
ing,  faithful  to  her  promises,  and  Christianlike  in 
her  conversation.” 

But  neither  good  character  in  the  present,  nor 
upright  living  in  the  past,  had  weight  in  that 
court ;  fits  and  convulsions  were  the  important 
testimony. 

It  is  a  temptation  to  dwell  longer  with  this 
gentle,  lovable  woman,  who  not  only  forgave  her 
enemies,  which  is  the  part  of  a  saint,  but  could 
charm  young  hearts,  a  rare  earthly  gift.  She 
was  arrested  May  28th,  and  among  those  exe¬ 
cuted  July  19th. 

There  is  one  point  where  this  last  case  re¬ 
minds  us  of  the  trial  of  the  Rev^Geo.  Burroughs. 
He  had  remarkable  athletic  power  which,  in  a 
slight  frame,  amazed  his  generation ;  as  they 
could  not  understand  how  he  performed  certain 
feats  of  strength,  it  was  concluded  after  his 
arrest  for  witchcraft,  that  he  derived  his  unusual 
strength  from  the  same  unlawful  source  from 
which  Elizabeth  How  gained  her  power  of  pleas¬ 
ing  children.  Muscle,  which  now  recommends 


'  . . .  '■  ■■■"  «  1 

*  ' 


■  AV  * 


m\  iji  pjd  ,  i- jwpiip 


a  man,  was  an  aid  in  the  destruction  of  this  un¬ 
fortunate  clergyman. 

(If  we  have  any  right  to  apply  the  term  unfor- 
nate  to  a  man,  suggesting  as  it  does  the  pre¬ 
destination  of  fate  and  not  the  fair  division  of 
providential  care,  it  could  be  used  with  propriety 
in  describing  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burroughs. 

He  had  been  a  former  pastor  over  the  church 
at  Salem  Village,  and  this  parish  it  would  seem 
was  never  a  flotvery  field  to  pasture  in.  While 
tending  this  flock,  his  salary  was  not  all  paid 
him,  and  when  his  wife  died  he  was  obliged  to 
run  into  debt  for  her  funeral  expenses,  and  his 
being  in  this  sad  plight  seemed  to  scandalize 
the  villagers  more  than  that  his  lawful  pay  was 
in  arrears,  and  the  debt  therefore  a  necessity. 

From  Salem  he  went  to  Casco  Bay,  and  in 
Maine  his  stay  was  more  comfortable,  though 
the  settlement  was  younger  and  liable  to  attacks 
from  Indians.  Doubtless  he  preferred  the  un¬ 
tutored  savage  to  the  inhumanity  of  civilized 
man. 

When  the  stage  managers  controlling  the 


I24  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


\ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


witchcraft  tragedy  felt  the  need  of  a  more  pow¬ 
erful  situation,  they  turned  their  eyes  toward  Mr. 
Burroughs  as  being  the  very  character  for  their 
purpose.  To  prove  the  reality  of  Satan’s  pres¬ 
ence  in  New  England,  and  his  desperate  .  be¬ 
havior  on  the  soil,  nothing  would  be  more 
overwhelming  than  to  show  his  hold  upon  one 
of  the  preachers  of  the  Lord. 

The  minister  then  was  on  such  a  pinnacle,  to 
see  his  fall  would  be  a  thrilling  sight. 

Our  present  realization  is,  that  the  wearer  of 
gown  and  bands  has  human  failings  with  the 
rest  of  us,  but  few  were  allowed  the  clergymen 
of  our  ancestors,  save  those  of  bigotry  and  in¬ 
tolerance. 

Therefore,  to  drag  a  minister  down  to  the 
depths  of  this  most  despicable  sin,  from  which 
he  would  be  raised  to  the  scaffold  would  be  a 
telling  stroke  ;  moreover  the  man  had  no  power¬ 
ful  friends  to  insist  that  the  accusers  had  “made 
a  mistake  in  the  person.” 

How  Mr.  Burroughs,  laboring  quietly  a  hun- 


X* ,  '  ''-f  r  / 


' 


' 


.  1 


126  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

tired  miles  away,  could  become  a  prisoner  be¬ 
fore  the  Salem  Court  would  be  a  puzzle,  if  one 
did  not  see  the  cunning  of  these  wicked  girls, 
and  the  infatuated  attention  bestowed  on  every¬ 
thing  they  tlid  and  said. 

Abigail  Hobbs,  who  took  a  short  but  painful 
part  in  the  proceedings,  had  lived  a  few  years 
before  in  Casco  Bay.  On  hearing  the  name  of 
Mr.  Burroughs  mentioned  by  the  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren  she  took  this  for  her  opportunity,  using  all 
the  old  scandal  she  had  heard  in  Maine  to  add 
to  the  inventions  of  the  Salem  girls.  She  de¬ 
clared  that  he  had  tortured  her  into  becoming 
a  witch,  and  that  she  had  been  present  at  a 
witch- meeting  where  he  presided,  while  Mary 
Warren  testified  that  “Mr.  Burroughs  had  a 
trumpet  which  he  blew  to  summon  the  witches 
to  their  feasts.” 

Abigail  Williams  saw  visions  and  said  that 
Mr.  Burroughs  “had  killed  three  wives,  two  for 
himself,  and  one  for  Mr.  Lawson.” 

But  the  statement  made  by  Ann  Putnam  is  so 


\ 


<  •  * 

'  r 


.  V 


t;  v : 


• 


. 


w 


! 

•« 


-ti 

i 


*  v  v  <v7 

% 


->•  •« 


Am 


Mtifa 


a 


■ 


' 


- 


r;  %v  ?7- 

'  ’  .  ' .  , 

,  ;  ■  .  •• 

‘  -  - :  r  ■  •- 


h-  tL ’  • 


p  -A  '  i,  ) 

W  / 


■  1  .* 


w 


fee" 

?L  .-A*.  I  »  „  V-  « 

r  •  •  •“> 

■  . 

, . 


<  - 


i  ,  • 

fX  Ifoi  *7  ■  }-Vv% 

-•  ■* 

*V,V4' 

)  >  .*'!  i 

:  i.  ‘V  ' 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


127 


extraordinary  and  awful,  when  we  reflect  that  it 
was  made  by  a  girl  twelve  years  old,  that  it 
should  be  inserted  as  a  specimen  of  what  the 
mind  can  become  when  fed  on  poison. 

“The  Deposition  of  Ann  Tutnam,  who  testi-* 
fieth  and  saith,  that,  on  the  8th  day  of  May,  at 
evening,  I  saw  the  apparition  of  Mr.  George 
Burroughs,  who  grievously  tortured  ;me,  and 
urged  me  to  write  in  his  book,  which  I  refused. 
He  then  told  me  that  his  two  first  wives  would 
appear  to  me  presently,  and  tell  me  a  great 
many  lies,  but  I  should  not  believe  them. 

Then  immediately  appeared  to  me  the  forms 
of  two  women  in  winding  sheets,  and  napkins 
about  their  heads,  at  which  I  was  greatly  af¬ 
frighted  ;  and  tfiey  turned  their  faces  towards  Mr. 
Burroughs,  and  looked  very  red  and  angry,  and 
told  him  that  he  had  been  a  cruel  man  to  them, 
and  that  their  blood  did  cry  for  vengeance 
against  him  ;  and  also  told  him  that  they  should 
be  clothed  with  white  robes  in  heaven,  when  he 
should  be  cast  into  hell ;  and  immediately  he 


. 

,  .  ’  _  >  .  *  *  wr  ,  .  .  .  T  .•  V 

.  •••; 

a ,  '  ,  '  "■  ■ 

*•  « 

5  .  , 

T  ■  J  *1  *  •  ‘  - 


«  1  >  , 


P'-*' 

4- 


?  * JV .  * 

•  •  i  ‘  " 

*  ji 


V*  1  * '  **  % 

rnUmmmmm 


'  . 


1 ttk 


• 

li 
;  , 

i 

’ 

t ' 

■VS.'-Vo  ’ 

A 

XJ  r  , 

L  -»  ,  •  1 

V* 

■  ,y‘ 

t , 


*  r  ..v 

1  •.  V 


(  *  y 

■  '  .  .  * 


a 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


vanished  away.  And,  as  soon  as  he  was  gone, 
the  two  women  turned  their  heads  toward  me, 
and  looked  as  pale  as  a  white  wall ;  and  told  me 
that  they  were  Mr.  Burroughs’  two  first  wives, 
and  that  he  had  murdered  them.  And  one  of 
them  told  me  that  she  was  his  first  wife,  and  he 
stabbed  her  under  the  left  arm  and  put  a  piece 
of  sealing-wax  on  the  wound.  And  she  pulled 
aside  the  winding-sheet  and  showed  me  the 
place ;  and  also  told  me  that  she  was  in  the 
house  where  Mr.  Parris  now  lives,  when  it  was 
done. 

And  the  other  told  me  that  Mr.  Burroughs  and 
that  wife  which  he  hath  now,  killed  her  in  the 
vessel,  as  she  was  coming  to  see  her  friends, 
because  they  would  have  one  another.  And 
they  both  charged  me  that  I  should  tell  these 
things  to  the  magistrates  before  Mr.  Burroughs’ 
face  ;  and,  if  he  did  not  own  them,  they  did  not 
know  but  they  should  appear  there.  This  morn¬ 
ing,  also,  Mrs.  Lawson  and  her  daughter  Ann 
appeared  to  me,  whom  I  knew,  and  told  me  Mr. 


■  v.-' 


1 


SALEM  WI  TCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 29 

Burroughs  murdered  them.  This  morning  also 
appeared  to  me  another  woman  in  a  winding- 
sheet,  and  told  me  that  she  was  Goodman 
Fuller’s  first  wife,  and  Mr.  Burroughs  killed  her 
because  there  was  some  difference  between  her 
husband  and  him.” 

A  warrant  had  been  procured  from  Boston 
April  30th,  for  the  arrest  of  George  Burroughs, 
“he  being  suspected  of  a  confederacy  with  the 
Devil.” 

As  the  marshal  returned  to  Salem  May  4th 
with  the  prisoner,  it  will  be  seen  there  was  no 
time  lost.  It  is  said  he  was  at  his  own  supper 
table  with  his  family,  when  he  was  seized  and 
roughly  hurried  away,  being  given  no  time  to 
either  provide  for  those  he  must  leave  behind, 
or  tfe  prepare  himself  for  the  journey. 

On  finding  what  were  the  accusations  made 
against  him,  his  words  befitted  his  profession  as 
a  follower  of  Christ — “It  is  an  humbling  Provi¬ 
dence  of  God.” 

On  the  9th  day  of  May  a  special  session  of 


.  -  4- 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE, 


the  Magistracy  was  held,  William  Stoughton 
coming  from  Dorchester  and  Samuel  Sewall 
from  Boston,  to  sit  with  Hathorne  and  Corwin, 
and  give  greater  solemnity  to  the  proceedings. 

Stoughton  presided ;  he  was  in  close  sym¬ 
pathy  with  Cotton  Mather. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  by  those  who  have 
taunted  Salem  with  “hanging  the  witches,”  that 
there  was  no  death- dealing  sentence  ordered 
there,  until  the  Court  had  been  reinforced  by 
Boston  dignitaries  ;  Stoughton  was  deputy-gov¬ 
ernor,  and  represented  the  Governor,  Sir  William 
Phips,  who,  not  arriving  in  the  colonies  until  the 
14th  of  May,  had  enough  else  to  do  in  becom¬ 
ing  acquainted  with  a  new  office  and  country. 

When  the  session  began  the  first  week  in  June, 
a  special  court  was  appointed  for  the  witchcraft 
trials.  Stoughton  was  commissioned  as  chief-jus- 
tice ;  Nathaniel  Saltonstall  of  Haverhill,  Major 
John  Richards  of  Boston,  Major  Bartholomew 
Gedney  of  Salem,  Mr.  Wait  Winthrop,  Captain 
Samuel  Sewall  and  Mr.  Peter  Sargent,  all  three  of 


I 


* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  131 

Boston,  were  made  associate  judges.  Saltonstall 
early  withdrew  from  the  service  ;  and  Jonathan 
Corwin,  of  Salem,  succeeded  to  his  place  on  the 
bench  of  the  special  court.  A  majority  of  the 
judges  were  citizens  of  Boston. 

The  court  met  again  August  5,  trying  and  con¬ 
demning  among  others  this  gentle  preacher  of 
the  gospel,  who  was  hung  on  the  19th  of  the  same 
month. 

He  was  a  man  in  whom  there  was  no  guile  ; 
he  could  not  in  the  least  comprehend  the  ma¬ 
chinery  of  sinful  falsehood  he  saw  in  working  or¬ 
der.  Amazed  he  was,  but  not  indignant  at  the 
accusers,  of  whom  he  perceived  not  their  malig¬ 
nity,  only  that  they  were  instruments  for  bring¬ 
ing  about  the  inscrutable  will  of  the  Almighty. 

Calef  gives  the  following  account  of  his  exe¬ 
cution  : 

“Mr.  Burroughs  was  carried  in  the  cart  with 
the  others,  through  the  streets  of  Salem,  to  exe¬ 
cution.  When  he  was  upon  the  ladder,  he  made  a 
speech  for  the  clearing  of  his  innocency,  with 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


such  solemn  and  serious  expressions  as  were  to 
the  admiration  of  all  present.  His  prayer  (which 
he  concluded  by  repeating  the  Lord’s  prayer) 
was  so  well  worded,  and  uttered  with  such  (at 
least  seeming)  fervency  of  spirit  as  was  very  af¬ 
fecting,  and  drew  tears  from  many,  so  that  it 
seemed  to  some  that  the  spectators  would  hinder 
the  execution.  The  accusers  said  the  black  man 
stood  and  dictated  to  him.  As  soon  as  he  was 
turned  off,  Mr.  Cotton  Mather,  being  mounted 
upon  a  horse,  addressed  himself  to  the  people, 
partly  to  declare  that  he  (Mr.  Burroughs)  was 
no  ordained  minister,  and  partly  to  possess  the 
people  of  his  guilt,  saying  that  the  Devil  had  of¬ 
ten  been  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light ;  and 
this  somewhat  appeased  the  people,  and  the  ex¬ 
ecutions  went  on.” 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

REV.  DEODAT  LAWSON  AND  OTHER  NAMES — SUSAN¬ 
NAH  MARTIN — NINETEEN  PERSONS  “  OF  WHOM 
THE  WORLD  WAS  NOT  WORTHY.” 

t£)\EV.  Deodat  Lawson  was  another  former 
1  V,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Salem  Village,  es¬ 
tablished  at  this  time  over  a  parish  in  Scituate. 
When  the  trouble  began  in  Salem  he  returned 
to  his  old  home,  not  as  did  the  wretched  Mr. 
Burroughs  in  the  character  of  a  witch,  but  as  an 
emissary  of  Divine  wrath  to  rebuke  the  sin  of 
witchcraft,  and  on  the  last  Sunday  of  March, 
preached  a  famous  sermon  for  which  he  is  chiefly 
remembered,  as  it  was  as  well  calculated  to 
soothe  the  public  mind,  as  Antony’s  address  to  the 
Romans. 

His  text  was  Zechariah  iii,  2  :  ‘‘And  the  Lord 

(«33) 


■ft— r  iw^iikh 


/ 


' 


'  \.  1 

'>  V  -  '  •  '■»  "? 

•V  .  •  * 


S 


P. 

It---  fv 


P-  ‘V  y5'  » 

•  ‘  1  ‘ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUILINE. 


said  unto  Satan  the  Lord  rebuke  thee,  O  Satan  ! 
even  the  Lord  that  hath  chosen  Jerusalem  rebuke 
thee ;  is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  out  of  the 
fire?” 

Being  a  man  of  great  intellectual  ability,  this 
text  handled  with  skill  and  vigor  spread  out  bound¬ 
lessly  over  the  field  actual  and  possible,  and  cre¬ 
ated  a  great  excitement. 

Doubtless  he  felt  himself  to  be  like  one  of  the 
prophets  of  old,  commissioned  from  above,  and 
under  the  necessity  of  crying  woe  !  to  those  of  his 
generation. 

It  is  impossible  in  one  small -volume  to  give  full 
accounts  of  all  persons  connected  with  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  of  this  remarkable  court,  and  sketches 
of  some  of  the  most  prominent  must  suffice. 

There  are  also  other  names,  of  whom  we 
could  not  tell  more  if  we  would,  as  there  is  al¬ 
most  nothing  of  peculiar  interest  preserved  about 
them  ;  their  stories  can  only  be  told  in  black 
head  lines ;  we  find  but  the  facts  of  their  arrest, 
trial;  and  execution. 


V  v  *  -  • 


.  ^ 


Jy; 


r  t 


u  f 
i 


I  V 


. 


i  % 


ttto 


■ 


D 


* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 35 

Among  them,  Ann  Tudeator,  Margaret  Scott, 
Wilmot  Reed  and  Mary  Parker ;  and  yet  they 
lost  their  lives  on  Gallows  Hill. 

Of  Alice^Parker,  little  is  known  but  that  she 
was  the  wife  of  a  mariner  who,  when  he  was  on 
land,  like  many  another  sailor,  loved  to  frequent 
the  tavern.  This  did  not  please  Alice  the  wife 
and  she  followed  him  to  Westgate’s  tavern  ;  and, 
not  a  whit  abashed  at  the  company,  vigorously 
denounced  her  recreant  spouse.  Westgate  re¬ 
monstrated  with  her  for  railing  at  her  husband, 
whereupon  she  turned  her  volley  of  abuse  upon 
the  keeper  of  the  ale-house.  Westgate  remem¬ 
bered  the  berating  she  gave  him,  and  at  her 
trial  gave  dreadful  descriptions  of  animals  that 
he  encountered  on  his  way  home  late  one  night, 
and  of  how  he  hurt  himself  tumbling  down  from 
fright. 

The  court,  being  composed  of  wise  men,  agreed 
with  him  that  Alice  Parker  was  responsible,  and 
no  one  was  impolite  enough  to  suggest  that  he 
had  been  drinking. 


/; 


•  s 

1 

'  1 


V- 

\  1 

•  V  1*4 

'  i  • 

,  ■  tK 


1  «*  J 

- 

.  ,  1 


» 

* 


1 


/ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

Parris  says  that  “Mr.  Noyes,  at  the  time  of  her 
examination,  affirmed  to  her  face,  that,  he  being 
with  her  at  the  time  of  sickness,  discoursing  with 
her  about  witchcraft,  whether  she  were  not  guilty, 
she  answered,  ‘if  she  was  as  free  from  other 
sins  as  from  witchcraft,  she  would  not  ask  of  the 
Lord  mercy.’  ” 

We  should  consider  this  a  strong  asseveration 
of  innocence,  but  the  divines  thought  differ¬ 
ently. 

Sarah  Wildes,  one  of  the  nineteen,  is  little  more 
than  a  name  to  us,  though  we  have  the  knowl¬ 
edge  that  she  held  to  her  innocence  with  firm¬ 
ness  and  met  her  death  bravely. 

Captaio_J-ahiL  Alden,  son  of  the  John  Alden 
of  Plymouth,  was  “cried  out”  upon  and  vilely 
slandered  by  the  girls.  He  was  in  a  bad  plight ; 
it  was  no  use  for  John  to  speak  for  himself  here, 
and  the  brave  soldier  in  fight  beat  a  stealthy  re¬ 
treat  from  the  scene,  and  so  won  the  battle  for 
his  life. 

There  is  a  touching  account  given  by  Jonathan 


\ 


.•  1 , 


t 


!  •  vj 

■  i 

1 


N 


.  c 


/ 


* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 37 

Cary  of  his  wife’s  arrest  and  trial,  but  their  names 
happily  are  not  on  the  fatal  list. 

John  Willard,  one  of  the  four  men  who  were 
executed,  had  sympathized  with  the  sorrows  of 
the  prisoners  and  expressed  his  disapproval  of 
the  whole  thing.  It  did  not  occur  to  him  that 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  witchcraft,  but  rather 
that  its  malign  influence  was  over  all,  accusers, 
judges  and  people. 

Said  he,  “Hang  them  ;  they  are  all  witches.” 
His  imprudence  of  speech  was  costly  ;  for,  incur¬ 
ring  the  displeasure  of  the  accusers,  they  in  their 
visions  saw  him  as  a  murderer  and  swore  to  many 
horrid  and  fantastic  details.  All  we  know  of  his 
death  is  from  Brattle,  who  describes  the  de¬ 
meanor  of  the  victims  who  perished  in’ August, 
as  being  indicative  of  their  conscious  innocence 
and  Christian  character;  especially  of  “Proctar 
and  Willard,  whose  whole  management  of  them¬ 
selves,  from  the  jail  to  the  gallows,  was  very  af¬ 
fecting,  and  melting  to  the  hearts  of  some  con¬ 
siderable  spectators  whom  I  could  mention  to 


+\nmmwd  p  i 


138  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

you ;  but  they  are  executed,  and  so  I  leave 
them.” 

One  piquant  figure  demands  attention,  and  no 
account  of  the  witchcraft  would  be  complete 
without  Susannah  Martin  ofrVmcsbury,  in  a  cen¬ 
tral  position  and  good  light.  She  was  a  widow, 
standing  by  herself,  but  quite  capable  of  doing 
so. 

In  person  she  was  short  and  buxom,  and  one 
of  those  to  whom  neatness  was  as  imperative 
as  the  law  of  gravitation.  Indeed,  this  desire 
for  cleanliness,  instead  of  being  understood  as 
an  approach  to  godliness  was  brought  up  against 
her  as  proving  an  intimacy  with  the  evil  one. 
It  was  positively  given  as  evidence  against  her 
that  she  made  her  way  to  a  neighbor’s  house  in 
dirty  weather  and  arrived  neat  and  dry.  Upon 
her  hostess  expressing  surprise  at  finding  such  a 
clean  guest,  she  replied  that  “she  scorned  to 
have  a  drabbled  tail.” 

As  to  her  turn  of  mind,  she  suggests  Bridget 
Bishop  in  her  fearless  speech,  and  like  her  she 


■ 


:■  .•  V'  „ 

■  ■  ■  .•■•■•■ 

t  r  >•'  ■  x- 

J£  '  •  V  Vv  ■»  ,!"•  >,  . 

r*  ,u.  ‘ '  ■  '•  •  '  . 

+  „•  »■ 

.  ’  ■  .  • ,  •  ‘ 

1 

I  V  ..  ' 

1 

,  - 

k  ■ r  v , . 

>  • 

• 

r,  v  .  W 

jV.*  •••/.'  .  . 

■  ■  1 . .  ■  ..  ■/  •  * 

a  •  ■  .  -  ■  • 

^  v- 

&•*  '■</;. . 

■  .  ..  i 


B:<  it  ’  /  V’  *• .. 

fl"  •  ■  .  »4i 

r  ■  ,  -i  i  ,  •  r 

r.  • 

P'  m 


nrnwHiwhl 


i 


»*•>>** 


-tj* 

L\  ,'v  V 

P*;  ».  •-  «.  ■  t .. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


>39 


had  once  before  been  gossipped  about  as  a  pos¬ 
sible  witch,  before  the  time  was  yet  ripe  for  the 
scandal  to  become  action. 

Parts  of  her  examination  must  be  given  to 
show  her  keen  wit  and  readiness  for  repartee. 

As  the  witnesses  went  into  fits  as  the  accused 
appeared,  the  magistrate  asked  : 

“Hath  this  woman  hurt  you?” 

(Abigail  Williams  declared  that  she  had  hurt 
her  often.  ‘Ann  Putnam  threw  her  glove  at  her 
in  a  fit,  ’  and  the  rest  were  struck  dumb  at  her 
presence  ) 

“What !  Do  you  laugh  at  it?”  said  the  magis¬ 
trate. — “Well  I  may  at  such  folly.” 

“Is  this  folly  to  see  these  so  hurt? — I  never 
hurt  man,  woman  or  child.” 

(Mercy  Lewis  cried  out,  “She  hath  hurt  me 
a  great  many  times,  and  plucks  me  down.”  Then 
Martin  laughed  again.  Several  others  cried  out 
upon  her,  and  the  magistrate  again  addressed 
her.) 


MMBM 


“ 4/  J 


C:.'-  .  •  :V  - 

■» 


5*o  *  . 


s'  \ 


•  i 


tf  < 

I  j 

A 


* 


t  ■  • 


j  * 


V  H 

;  4 


► 


.1 


. 


*4°  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

“What  do  you  say  to  this?— I  have  no  hand 
in  witchcraft. 

What  did  you  do?  did  you  consent  these 
should  be  hurt? — No,  never  in  my  life. 

.  “What  aiIs  these  people  ? — I  do  not  know. 

“But  what  do  you  think  ails  them?— I  do  not 
desire  to  spend  my  judgment  upon  it. 

“Do  you  think  they  are  bewitched? — No,  I 
do  not  think  they  are. 

“Well,  tell  us  your  thoughts  about  them.— 
My  thoughts  are  my  own  when  they  are  in  ;  but 
when  they  are  out,  they  are  another’s. 

“Who  do  you  think  is  their  master?— If  they 
be  dealing  in  the  black  art,  you  may  know  as 
well  as  I. 

“What  have  you  done  towards  the  hurt  of 
these? — I  have  done  nothing. 

“Why,  it  is  you,  or  your  appearance. — I  can¬ 
not  help  it. 

“How  comes  your  appearance  to  hurt  these? 
— How  do  I  know? 


V 


1 


* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  141 

‘•Are  you  not  willing  to  tell  the  truth?— I  can¬ 
not  tell.  He  that  appeared  in  Samuel’s  shape 
can  appear  in  anyone’s  shape. 

“Do  you  believe  these  afflicted  persons  do  not 
say  true? — They  may  lie,  for  aught  I  know. 

“May  not  you  lie?— I  dare  not  tell  a  lie  if  it 
would  save  my  life.” 

Her  boldness  infuriated  the  accusers,  so  that 
a  great  uproar  was  occasioned  by  the  dreadful 
nature  of  the  convulsions,  but  Susannah  Martin 
was  scornful  and  unmoved,  and  again  the  mag¬ 
istrate  demands : 

“What  is  the  reason  these  cannot  come  near 
you  ? — I  cannot  tell,  it  may  be  the  Devil  bears 
me  more  malice  than  any  other. 

“Do  you  not  see  God  discovering  you? — No, 
not  a  bit  for  that. 

“  All  the  congregation  besides,  think  so.  — 
Let  them  think  what  they  will. 

“What  is  the  reason  these  cannot  come  to 
you  ? — I  do  not  know  but  they  can  if  they  will ; 
or  else,  if  you  please,  I  will  come  to  them." 


142 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


When  the  Shakespeare  of  the  future  seeks  for 
characters  to  people  his  tragedy  from  these  ma¬ 
terials,  he  could  not  put  into  the  mouth  of  Mar¬ 
tin  more  clever  speeches  than  she  utters  for 
herself  in  these  records.  Her  dauntless,  spicy 
replies  delight  the  reader  who,  in  his  enjoyment 
at  her  ready  wit,  forgets  that  this  substantial 
woman  who  suggests  earth  more  than  heaven, 
came  to  her  end  on  the  scaffold  a  little  more 
than  two  months  after  this,  July  19. 

We  would  prefer  to  think  of  her  as  castigating 
the  magistrates  with  her  sharp  tongue  for  an  in¬ 
definite  period. 

^The  names  of  those  executed,  and  the  order 
in  which  they  perished,  are  as  follows  : 

Bridget  Bishop  on  June  10th ;  Sarah  Good, 
Sarah  Wildes,  Elizabeth  How,  Rebecca  Nurse 
and  Susanna  Martin  executed  July  19. 

George  Burroughs,  John  Procter,  George  Ja- 

' -  -V 

cobs,  John  Willard,  Martha  Carrier  executed 
Aug.  19. 

Martha  Corey,  Mary  Easty,  Alice  Parker, 


-  V- 


I*-"- 


""  1  * . ■ 


.  :  V 


p 


.<  • 

J'-'-iy  i 

*  ,  ♦ 

if.  :;v~‘ 
•  ■  • 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

Ann  Pudeator,  Margaret  Scott,  Wilmot  Reed, 
Samuel  Wardwell  and  Mary  Parker  were  exe¬ 
cuted  Sept.  T2. 

Giles  Corey  was  pressed  tQ  death,  Sept.  19. 

Superintending  the  executions,  there  would  be 
generaljy  some  one  like  Cotton  Mather  or  Mr. 
Noyes,  to  attend  to  the  sympalhie  of  the  pub- 
lic^mind.  When  natural  human  impulseswouhl 
rise  in  the  hearts  of  the  spectators,  and  their 
reason  be  likewise  impressed  by  the  fortitude 
and  Christlike  patience  of  the  executed,  the  mo¬ 
ment  of  their  possible  revulsion  of  feeling  would 
be  seized  to  inflame  afresh  the  deluded  populace 
against  those  in  the  throes  of  death. 

After  the  eight  unfortunate  women  had  been 
hung  on  the  22nd  of  Sept.,  Mr.  Noyes  pointing 
to  their  bodies  exclaimed  :  “What  a  sad  sight 
it  is  to  see  eight  firebrands  of  hell  hanging 
there. 

But  no  more  did  he  see  the  sight,  although 
the  sadness  of  it  he  would  have  gladly  borne. 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OFIXINE 


144 


Gallows  Hill  was  never  again  so  disgraced  and, 
looking  steadfastly  over  the  city  of  Salem  upon 
the  everlasting  sea,  prays  that  the  rains  and 
snows  of  two  hundred  years  may  have  washed 
away  the  stain. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


(I. 


THE  AWAKENING. 


1^)  UT  what  finally  broke  the  spell  by  which 
the  minds  of  the  whole  colony  had  been 
held  in  bondage,  was  the  accusation  in  October, 
of  Mrs.  Hale,  the  wife  of  the  minister  of  the  First 
Church  in  Beverly.  Her  genuine  and  distin¬ 
guished  virtues  had  won  for  her  a  reputation  and 
\  secured  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  a  confidence, 

W’hich  superstition  itself  could  not  sully  nor  shake. 

\ 

tylr.  Hale  had  been  active  in  all  the  previous 
proceedings ;  but  he  knew  the  innocence  and 
piety  of  his  wife,  and  he  stood  forth  between  her 

v 

and  the  st6rm  he  had  helped  to  raise ;  although 
he  had  driven  it  on  while  others  were  its  victims, 
he  turned  anirj  resisted  it,  when  it  burst  upon  his 
own  dwelling.^  The  whole  community  became 
7  1  045) 


. 


■ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


convinced  that  the  accusers  in  crying  out  upon 
Mrs.  Hale  had  perjured  themselves,  and  from 
that  moment  their  power  was  destroyed  ;  the 
awful  delusion  was  dispelled,  and  a  close  put  to 
one  of  the  most  tremendous  tragedies  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  real  life.  The  wildest  storm,  perhaps, 
that  ever  raged  in  the  moral  world  became  a 
calm;  the  tide  that  had  threatened  to  overwhelm 
everything  in  its  fury  sank  back  to  its  peaceful 
bed.  There  are  few,  if  any,  other  instances  in 
history  of  a  revolution  of  opinion  and  feeling  so 
sudden,  so  rapid  and  so  complete.  The  images 
and  visions  that  had  possessed  the  bewildered 
imaginations  of  the  people  flitted  away,  and  left 
them  standing  in  the  sunshine  of  reason  and 
their  senses;  and  they  could  have  exclaimed:,  as 
they  witnessed  them  passing  off,  in  the  language 
of  the  great  master  of  the  drama  and  of  human 
nature,  but  that  their  rigid  Puritan  principles 
would  not,  it  is  presumed,  have  permitted  them, 
even  in  that  moment  of  rescue  and  deliverance, 
to  quote  Shakespeare, — 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


147 


‘The  earth  hath  bubbles,  as  the  water  has, 

And  these  are  of  them.  Whither  are  they  vanished? 
Into  the  air:  and  what  seemed  corporal,  melted 
As  breath  into  the  wind.’  ” 


Not  only  had  public  sentiment  defnanded  that 
a  stop  be  put  to  the  proceedings,  but  the  Gov¬ 
ernor,  Sir  William  Phips,  stepped  in  between  the 
law  and  the  people,  and  ordered  that  the  Special 
Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  should  try  no  more 
cases  of  witchcraft.  Once  convinced  of  the  mis¬ 
take  of  his  age,  he  resolutely  protected  the  peo¬ 
ple  from  further  wrong  ;  and  in  October,  by  or¬ 
daining  that  no  more  spectral  testimony  be  re¬ 
ceived  as  evidence,  it  became  impossible  to 
^compass  further  convictions.  It  was  doubtless 
thV'ough  the  influence  of  his  wife  that  the  Gov- 


ernot^looked  into  the  matter  with  such  discern¬ 


ing  eyek;.  for  she  had  deep  sympathy  for  the  ac¬ 
cused.  For  expressing  this  pity,  the  Governor’s 
lady  was  “cried  out”  upon  ;  but  no  one  heeded 
the  cries  of  the  afflicted  children. 


The  prisons?  of  Salem,  Boston,  Cambridge  and 


r— 


.  •-.b-  ?  V  ..  T? 


'  «  1. ..  r  - 


■ 


•> 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


Ipswich  were  full,  and  had  been  for  months.  No 
exact  knowledge  of  how  many  were  imprisoned 
can  be  gained,  but  hundreds  must  have  been 
committed,  for  when  in  May  the  prison  doors 
were  opened,  one  hundred  and  fifty  went  forth, 
though  insult  was  added  to  injury  by  charging 
the  prisoners  for  their  own  board  and  jailer’s  fees  ; 
yet  the  19th  century  should  not  be  supercilious 
in  judging  the  1  7th  in  this  particular,  as  imprison¬ 
ment  for  debt  in  this  country  has  only  been  aban¬ 
doned  within  a  few  decades. 

Twenty  came  to  death,  and  we  know  death 
came  to  two  in  prison,  Ann  Foster  and  Sarah  Os- 
burn,  and  probably  many  more  by  grief  and 
hardship  escaped  the  gallows. 

There  is  nothing  like  having  a  thing  brorjg|,t 
home  to  us,  to  gain  new  perceptions  of  thie  sub¬ 
ject.  As  long  as  Mr.  Hale  saw  the  accusations 
only  of  other  people’s  wives,  he  fouivj  it  easy  to 
believe  them ;  but  when  the  trage/dy  came  to 
brood  over  his  own  hearthstone,  s’jch  a  flood  of 
light  was  poured  upon  it,  he  saw  clearly  what  he 


/ 


V  \  //  * 

•;  •  -i 

■ 

•  •  *  ■  , 

•  t  ■■  « 

, .  ■ 

k  4  ¥•'- 

»v>,  ;  ' 

,  ■  •» 

k  l  \<*J,  **;,  *•  . 

•:  v 

r**#'  ■  c  /  M 

j4t  f  ’  >v  V  ■  • 

•  . 

p  > 

(  •  i,*  '  ■  -  t 

y  *  <  ■  • 

tv  ' 

•  •  •  ; 


*}!'  i- 

*  ~  ■  *  . 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

never  could  distinguish  before  at  his  neighbor’s 
fireside. 

As  we  think  of  the  condemned,  let  this  fact  be 
emphasized  in  the  memory,  that  "all  who  were 
condemned  either  maintained  their  innocence 
from  the  first,  or,  if  persuaded  or  overcome  into 
a  confession,  voluntarily  took  it  back  and  dis¬ 
owned  it  before  trial.  If  this  be  so,  then  the 
name  of  every  person  condemned  ought  to  be 
held  in  lasting  honor,  as  preferring  to  die  rather 
than  lie,  or  stand  to  a  lie.  It  required  great 
strength  of  mind  to  take  back  a  confession  ;  re¬ 
linquish  life  and  liberty  ;  go  down  into  a  dungeon, 
loaded  with  irons;  and  thence  to  ascend  the 
gallows.  It  relieves  the  mind  to  think  that 
Abigail  Hobbs,  wicked  and  shocking  as  her  con¬ 
duct  lh,ad  been  towards  Mr.  burroughs  and  others, 
came  to  herself,  and  offered  her  life  in  atone¬ 
ment  for  her  sin.” 

The  people  of  Andover  were  quick  to  take  an 
idea.  Many  -of  them,  as  soon  as  they  wete  ap¬ 
prehended,  resorted  to  confession  of  their  guilt, 


hUMM 


-  >r 

•M*  v- 


•  .  ■  ' .  >  •  ■ 

* 

, 

9 


V* 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


and  so  avoided  either  trial  or  examination.  They 
may  have  reconciled  the  lie  to  their  consciences, 
as  we  would  humor  the  vagaries  of  a  mad  man 
in  order  to  save  our  lives,  believing  that  it  was 
justifiable  to  accede  to  any  monstrous  statement 
the  lunatic  might  make  while  brandishing  a  dead¬ 
ly  weapon. 

It  was  in  Andover  also,  that  when  the  awaken¬ 
ing  came,  their  citizens  were  broad  awake,  and 
instantly  reversed  the  order  of  things,  by  bring¬ 
ing  suits  for  slander  against  those  who  had  so 
zealously  been  hunting  up  cases  of  witchcraft. 

Reckoning  in  the  ordinary  way,  the  two  hun¬ 
dred  years  between  ourselves  and  the  people  who 
saw  the  witchcraft  frenzy  would  be  represented, 
by  eight  generations.  Our  claim  upon  them  js 
shrouded  in  such  a  mist  of  “great-greats,”'that 
none  but  an  adept  in  genealogy  can  pierce  the 
haze. 

But  here  is  a  short  cut  into  the  past,  by  which 
each  reader  may  look  upon  the  streets  of  Salem, 
in  1692,  through  oral  testimony,  with  but  two  in- 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


/  vr, 

if'  A  t  W  *  *  . 

I  •  ,  ■  V 

•I:  •  •  5  r’  v  r 

P  fi  I  5 

T‘  ■ 

I 

ftp  •  .  ' 

J 

I 

'•  >v. 

•.<  :  •  •  v  • 

t  ’  /.  • 

t 

f  :i  .  . 

rV  r.-/ .  • 

r* 

».•  •  •  ,* 

\  .  i-  ■*’  , 


H’; 

1  n  w  « 

V  1 

h  v  • 

r.  .v 

•y$v  \\ 

W 

1 

fit ,  •, 

,  4 

frH  : 
wt ' 

jlV'J*  ' 

Wi 

'rly 


i-  ■  ■  '  • ' . 

l/'v  ' 

l--**  ■  * 

■  »v:: 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE.  1 5  I 

tervenir.g  generations.  A  gentleman  whose  dis¬ 
tinguished  figure  and  antiquarian  tastes  make  him 
one  of  the  notable  citizens  of  the  Salem  of  to¬ 
day,  heard  from  his  grandmother  (who  died  in 
1862,  aged  ninety-two)  the  story  told  by  her 
grandmother,  whose  mother  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  scene  she  describes  ;  she  was  living  at  the 
time  on  Essex  street  where  the  Perley  block  now 
stands,  and  related,  that  as  the  wagon  bearing 
the  body  of  Giles  Corey  passed  her  door,  she  saw 
a  man  push  back  with  his  cane  the  tongue  of  un¬ 
fortunate  Corey,  which  by  the  agonizing  pressure 
had  been  forced  from  his  mouth. 

Let  us  take  one  more  glimpse  at  a  few  of  those 
concerned  in  the  trials,  before  closing  the  covers 
of  fhis  little  book. 

Sori.e  of  the  characters,  though  aroused,  were 
like  sleepy  children  and  could  not  quite  realize 
the  state  of  things  about  them  for  a  long  time ; 
indeed,  a  few  of  them  one  might  say  never  waked 
up  at  all.  Such  was  Tudqe  Stoughton. — • 

He  would  never  admit  that  he  or  any  one  else 
had  been  deluded,  neither  could  he  bear  to  hear 


>  c.  j 


•  ■  ■ 


k.  -  ■  •  V  ’•  •  •  .  • 

f*.  J*;  ^  t  * 

\  \  i  . 


' 

' 


J 


wnen  ne  lound  that  he  would  not  be  allowed 
to  sentence  any  more  witches,  he  was  so  exasper¬ 
ated  that  he  left  the  bench  in  displeasure  never 
vrcturn.ng.  “In  January  1692-3,  word  was  brought 
\^t,1at  a  reprieve  was  sent  to  Salem,  and  had 
prevented  the  execution  of  seven  of  those  that 
were  condemned,  which  so  moved  the  chief  judge 
that  he  said  to  this  effect :  ‘We  were  in  a  way  to 
have  cleared  the  land  of  them  ;  who  it  is  that 
obstructs  the  cause  of  justice  I  know  not ;  the 
Lord  be  merciful  to  the  Country  !*  and  so  went 
off  the  bench,  and  came  no  more  into  that  Court.” 

In  strong  contrast,  is  the  conduct  of  Judge 
Sewall.  He  saw  the  awful  error,  and  had  grace 
to  tell  the  world  of  his  enlightenment  and-  peni¬ 
tence.  He  observed  annually,  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  in  private  ;  and 
m  public,  “On  the  day  of  the  general  fast,  he 
rose  in  the  place  where  he  was  accustomed  to 
worship,  the  ‘Old  South  ’  in  Boston,  an,)  in 


. 


. 

' 


' 


154 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


then  in  my  childhood,  should,  by  such  providence 
of  God  be  made  an  instrument  for  the  accusing 
of  several  persons  of  a  grievous  crime,  whereby 
their  lives  were  taken  away  from  them,  whom  now 
I  have  just  grounds  and  good  reason  to  believe 
they  were  innocent  persons  ;  and  that  it  was  a 
great  delusion  of  Satan  that  deceived  me  in  that 
sad  time,  whereby  I  justly  fear  I  have  been  instru¬ 
mental,  with  others,  though  ignorantly  and  un¬ 
wittingly,  to  bring  upon  myself  and  this  land  the 
guilt  of  innocent  blood  ;  though  what  was  said 
or  done  by  me  against  any  person  I  can  truly  and 
uprightly  say,  before  God  and  man,  I  did  it  not 
out  of  any  anger,  malice  or  ill-will  to  any  per?- 
son,  for  I  had  no  such  thing  against  one  of  there ; 
but -what  I  did  was  ignorantly,  being  delude*:  by 
Satan.  And  particularly,  as  I  was  a  chief  instru¬ 
ment  of  accusing  of  Goodwife  Nurse  and  her 
two  sisters,  I  desire  to  lie  in  the  dust  and  to  be 
humbled  for  it,  in  that  I  was  a  cause,  with  others, 

of  so  sad  a  calamity  to  them  and  tneir  families ; 

'  '  .  . 

for  which  cause  I  desire  to  lie  in  the  dust,  and 
earnestly  beg  forgiveness  of  God,  and  from  all 


')  i 


I 


I 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


v .  •  ■ 

K’V-  '  -t  •  ■.  ' 

h  :-  1 

‘V.. 


those  unto  whom  I  have  given  just  cause  of  sor¬ 
row  and  offence,  whose  relations  were  taken  away 
or  accused.” 

I  his  is  not  so  humble  as  it  mighfc  have  been 
perhaps,  considering  what  Ann  Putnam  had  been 
responsible  for,  though  like  a  true  daughter  of 
Eve  she  throws  the  blame  upon  the  Devil  for  her 
naughtiness  ;  while  the  tumult  she  brought  about, 
is  described  as  ‘'that  sad  and  humbling  providence 
that  befell  my  father’s  family  in  the  year  about 
’92.”  It  was  bad  enough  to  shift  the  burden 
upon  the  Devil,  without  presuming  to  suggest 
there  was  a  Providence  connected  with  the  mat¬ 
ter. 

("Mr.  Parris  was  another  who  failed  to  see  what 
cruvl  folly  he  had  been  about,  and  this  fact  add¬ 
ed  to  i's  previous  unpopularity,  made  his  parish 
and  the  whole  community  long  to  be  rid  of  him,. 

But  he  dd  not  wish  to  go.  He  was  deaf  and 
blind  to  hint;,  and  when  it  came  to  direct  efforts 
to  compass  hi;  change  of  residence,  he  ns  delib- 
erately  prepared  to  resist  all  such  unwelcome 


ft  .  .  - 

■  -  - 

s, 

V  ' 


SAJ.EM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


bci[  10  entorcea  abstinence  from  witch-persecu¬ 
tion.  His  name  is  not  found  in  any  petition  in 
behalf  of  sufferers  of  the  delusion,  nor  is  there 
evidence  of  any  penitential  attitude  towards  them 
on  his  part,  after  the  delusion  was  over.  As  he 
so  ardently  pursued  the  supposed  guilty,  it  must 
have  been  a  great  trial,  that  believing  in  all  bit¬ 
terness  they  were  guilty  still,  he  could  no  more; 
bring  them  to  punishment. 

Cotton  Mather  and  his  subsequent  position,  can 
best  be  shown  by  his  own  diary  of  the  yea.r  i  724, 
where  he  unbosoms  himself  freely,  revealing  his 
disappointed  ambitions,  and  that  he  recognizes 
his  fallen  position  from  public  esteem. 

1.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord 'helped  me  to 

do  for  the  seafaring  tribe,  in  prayers  for  them, 


V  ] 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE 


in  sermons  to  them,  in  books  bestowed  upon  them, 
and  in  various  projections  and  endeavors  to  ren-  v 
der  the  sailors  a  happy  generation  ?  And  yet  there 
is  not  a  man  in  the  world  so  reviled,  so  slandered, 
so  cursed  among  sailors.” 

2.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  helped  me  to  do 
for  the  instruction  and  salvation  and  comfort  of 
the  poor  negroes?  And  yet  some,  on  purpose  to 
affront  me,  call  their  negroes  by  the  name  of 
COTTON  MATHER,  so  that  they  may,  with 
some  shadow  of  truth,  assert  crimes  as  committed 
by  one  of  that  name,  which  the  hearers  take  to 
be  me. 

3.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
for  the  profit  and  honor  of  the  female  sex,  es¬ 
pecially  in  publishing  the  virtuous  and  laudable  ^ 
characters  of  holy  women  ?  And  yet  where  is  the 
man  whom  the  female  sex  have  spit  more  of  their 
venom  at?  I  have  cause  to  question  whether 
there  are  twice  ten  in  the  town  but  what  have,  at 
some  time  or  other,  spoken  basely  of  me. 

4.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do, 


4LLIIM  lW 


* 


158  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 

that  I  may  be  a  blessing  to  my  relatives  ?  I  keep 
a  catalogue  of  them,  and  not  a  week  passes  me 
without  some  good  devized  for  some  or  other  of 
them,  till  I  have  taken  all  of  them  under  my  cog¬ 
nizance.  And  yet  where  is  the  man  who  has 
been  so  tormented  with  such  monstrous  relatives  ? 
Job  said  ‘ lam  a  brother  to  dragons .’ 

5 .  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
for  the  vindication  and  reputation  of  the  Scottish 
nation  ?  And  yet  no  Englishman  has  been  so  vil- 
lified  by  the  tongues  and  pens  of  Scots  as  I  have 
been. 

6.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
for  the  good  of  the  country,  in  applications  with¬ 
out  number  for  it  in  all  its  interests,  besides  pub¬ 
lications  of  things  useful  to  it  and  for  it?  And  yet 
there  is  no  man  whom  the  country  so  loads  with 
disrespect  and  calumnies  and  manifold  expres¬ 
sions  of  aversion. 

8.  “What. has  a  gracious  Lord  gLen  me  to  do 
that  the  college  may  be  owned  for  the  bring¬ 
ing  forth  such  as  are  somewhat  known  in  the 

'  '  } 

■ ; 


/ 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


wuuu,  anu  nave  reaci  ana  wrote  as  much  as  many 
have  done  in  their  places?  And  yet  the  College 
forever  puts  marks  of  disesteem  upon  me.  If  I 
were  the  greatest  blockhead  that  ever  came  from 
it,  or  the  greatest  blemish  that  ever  came  to  it, 
they  could  not  easily  show  me  more  contempt 
than  they  do. 

10.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
in  good offices ,  wherever  I  could  find  opportunities 
for  the  doing  of  them?  I  forever  entertain  them 
with  alacrity.  I  have  offered  pecuniary  recom¬ 
penses  to  such  as  would  advise  me  of  them.  And 
yet  I  see  no  man  for  whom  all  are  so  loth  to  do 
'jgood  offices.  Indeed  I  find  some  cordial  friends 
bu'J  how  few!  Often  have  I  said,  ‘what  would  I 
give  jf  there  were  any  one  man  in  the  world  to  do  ^ 
for  me  N'vhat  I  am  willing  to  do  for  every  man  in 
the  world  V 

n.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
in  the  writing  of  many  books  for  the  advancing  of 
piety  and  the  promoting  of  his  kingdom?  There 
are,  I  suppose,  more  than  three  hundred  of  them. 

And  yet  I  have  had  more  books  written  against 


I 


r 


160 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  IN  OUTLINE. 


me,  more  pamphlets  to  traduce  and  reproaC  me 
and  belie  me,  than  any  man  I  know  in  the  world. 

1 2.  “What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do 
in  a  variety  of  services?  For  many  lustres  of  years, 
not  a  day  has  passed  me  without  some  devices, 
even  written  devices,  to  be  serviceable.  And 
yet  my  sufferings  !  They  seem  to  be  (as  in  reason 
they  should  be)  more  than  my  services.  Every¬ 
body  points  at  me,  and  speaks  of  me  as  by  far 
the  most  afflicted  minister  in  all  New  England. 
And  many  look  on  me  as  the  greatest  sinner,  be¬ 
cause  the  greatest  sufferer  !  and  are  pretty  arbi¬ 
trary  in  their  conjectures  upon  my  punished  mis¬ 
carriages.” 

Coming  to  the  last  page,  the  reader  may  dovabt 
whether  the  question  “Why  did  they  suffer  £!’  has 
yet  been  answered.  Possibly  not,  but  here  are 
plenty  of  facts,  and  each  reader  can  take  them 
and  make  answer  himself. 

If  the  mind  sickens  at  the  horrors  on  which  it 
has  supped,  grieving  at  the  sin  of  some  which 
caused  the  agony  of  others,  let  u<s  look  at  the  glp- 


!  |  |  --  ■»-  — -  . . . . . 


rious  triumpn  6f  TTUInaR!^  \Abr 'Inhumanity,' 
rejoice  in  the  heavenly  qualities  it  has  brought 
out.  They  were  dearly  bought,  but  they  are  for 
us  and  for  all  future  generations.  Pausing  before 
the  monument  of  Rebecca  Nurse  the  other  day, 
a  singular  sight  was  seen.  The  underbrush  had 
been  gathered  up  and  was  burning  under  the  tall 
pine  trees.  The  flames  and  smoke  were  wreath¬ 
ing  and  curling  in  the  wind,  at  times  obscuring 
the  granite  pile  it  encircled. 

Irresistible  and  weird  was  the  lesson.  The 
smoke  of  superstition  and  the  fire  of  fury  had 
raged  for  a  while,  destroying  what  could  be 
reached.  But  they  were  soon  spent,  and  as  they 
(^appeared,  the  rock  came  into  clear  view  which 
represents  the  faith  which  supported  Rebecca 
Nursep^nd  reason,  now  firmly  established  for  all 
time.  \ 


)■  'r£  ‘ 

P 

V 


i  ii  in  mmmm 


D00379207S 


/ 


